4 out of 5

Label: trace / untrace

Produced by: Lochie Noble (recorded, mixed and mastered by)

A wild, funking world-ending narrative, as told through bouts of indie rock, kraut, and psychedelic jams. Done with more affectation, this could be pretty obnoxious, but The Spectre Collective approach it as an organic unit: one cohesive musical story told across its eleven tracks, making their hopping across genres, while talking about ghouls and melting flesh, seem… sincere. There’s an unnerving vibe to this that combines with the fun of the grooves, and the lush production, and tightly-synced players.

Cosmosis’ lyrics seem to, at first, discuss the crumbling nature of our world; whether allegory or story, I’m not prepared to say, but the words are quite impressive, finding inventive imagery and ways of rhyming / describing how things are going wrong; black metal lyricists should be taking some dang notes. This is expressed while the music functions in something of a dance-punk / krautrock format, merging that with some spacey psychedelia as we start to discuss some type of rebirth… leading to centerpiece ambient instrumental, Anya’s Dream.

From here on out, things get wicked, telling tales of demons and other creepos while the music gets more and more aggressive, building to a one-two of stoner rock that brings us to another existence-ending: but one of ultimate moral destitution and destruction: The Red Waste, wherein we “ease the consistent demeaning existence / That we never wished for.” Oof.

Cosmosis really is a journey, but it’s not one that requires 2-discs and an explanatory analysis of references to grasp; the tunes rock or shimmy all on their own, and then offer up fascinating but graspable concepts, with room for analysis if so desired, or just to be interpreted as a fancifully illustrated story. The only thing holding it back, I’d say, is unfortunately what makes it work: the seamless stitching of the album, and its organic vibe, feels like it leads to the group holding back at times, not allowing tunes to come to perhaps more indulgent peaks that would’ve made for some excellent singles. The krautrock-influenced tunes tend to hit their stride and just remain there, for example, and the music doesn’t quite push the conclusion to ultimate highs, though the overall flow and repeatability of the album does.

So if some satisfying excess was sacrificed to make it a more consistent project through and through – I approve.