Cognizance are a death metal band from the UK and this is their fourth album.
Following on from 2024’s strong Phantazein, Cognizance have now returned with the 37-minute In Light, No Shape. Once again we get treated to the band’s take on modern technical death metal, and, as usual, it’s a winner.
With a lineup change that sees the band’s guitarist take on lead vocal duties, Cognizance deliver a slightly retooled sound on In Light, No Shape. It’s one that’s instantly familiar to fans of the band, but has a shift in dynamics and songwriting that makes for an engaging listen. Alongside this, the production is less polished than that of your typical tech death band, allowing the music to breathe and pulse with mechanical vigour.
These new songs showcase an enhanced Cognizance. Their technical grooves and surgical blasts are precise and targeted, yet come to life with increased vitality. The touches of progressive worldbuilding that occur are impactful. These latter aspects allow for atmospheric components to appear, peppering the songs with depth and feeling. Percussive textures, melodic colour, technical intricacies, and fine detailing are all used effectively. There are also some meaty riffs scattered amidst the tech death wizardry.
The band succeed in assembling all of this into songs that offer more than they might at first seem to. Essentially, Cognizance do a lot with the material in the short time they have given themselves, and it’s great to hear them flex their creative muscles.
In Light, No Shape provides another enjoyable journey into Cognizance’s technical and progressive death metal waters. Cognizance are a reliably capable band, and this is a record for you if you’re a fan of bands like Archspire, Beyond Creation, Fallujah, Obscura, Psycroptic, Retromorphosis, The Zenith Passage, etc.
Wonderbox Metal 