Colossloth — Promethean Meat
[Cold Spring — 2022]★★★★★
Reviewed 1 December 2022by Paul Casey
Returning to Cold Spring with their latest album, UK's Colossloth continue to plumb the depths of industrial with the rough and crushing Promethean Meat. Two years after their last full length, this project moves sound like mountains, heavy and huge, while still adding beats and rhythms to create a new approach to its sound, while still remaining true to its industrial roots. Clanging guitars teaming up with industrial noise bring about walls of sound that even Prometheus himself wouldn't mind an eternity chained to.
Blasting over eleven tracks, Promethean Meat is an excellent combination of various elements and styles to produce an intriguing whole that is weaved together seamlessly. Like the view from the side of the mountain, there are larger sonic vistas put forth that show the scope of Colossloth's latest, all the while the eagle is there to come and retrieve its promethean meat. The more vicious passages reflect the tearing and devouring of the titanic organ and Colossloth deftly melds the two worlds together. Focusing on a shorter track length, Promethean Meat can present more varied approaches without sacrificing vision, which isn't always possible with longer form songs. Similar in vibe to CSR's Skullflower releases, Colossloth takes this heavy, thickly layered composition and in addition to giving the listener the combined whole, he also spreads the layers apart and allows the world to hear what is contained within, separated out via varied tracks. It is this approach that makes Promethean Meat such an engaging album - like the titan it is named for, the insides are often on the outside, and we as eagles are given quite a glimpse at composition and a fantastic meal.
Bringing on the cold, grim industrial noise, Colossloth's Promethean Meat is a fine example of an artist continuing to grow and improve with each successive release. Utilizing many approaches, this latest release combines noise, electronics, guitars, drums, and vocals to hammer forth an industrial onslaught with varied layers and forms. Opening itself up and allowing itself to be spread over nearly a dozen tracks, Promethean Meat takes a titan-sized liver and breaks it down into tasty, bite-sized chunks. Although released in the summer, this album plays fantastically well with the late fall and on-coming winter.