Soiling and devouring all that they encounter from one realm to the next Prague, Czechia-based death metal quintet CANCER VOID mark their first secondary site on this debut EP, a pathogenic overtaking of the senses by way of cosmic horror and the mangled DNA of classic death metal. Soon overgrown within the host and gnawing through ‘First Metastasis‘ carries both gurgling foulness in harried bursts and ominous, doomed expanse on this surprisingly accomplished introductory release. Despite a general saturation of similar acts diluting the pool of late these folks’ve manage to stand out via the hungered abomination created, summoning unreal atmosphere and worthy riffcraft alike in sinister combine.

At this point I don’t know anything about Cancer Void beyond what I’ve heard. They appear to be a fairly new band who’ve been gigging in their region for the past ~year or so. I’ve seen some speculation that they’ve shared members with Bahratal and maybe Můra among others but this wouldn’t be all that significant knowledge either way. Their style is spiritually comparable to something like Sněť if we’re looking to the Praha new-old school style death metal scenery of late though these fellowes lean into a death/doom metal mode more often and sport a less rawed-up sound. Cosmic horror is the general gist of their aesthetic, atmospheric affect and lyricism while their sound more immediate than that’d imply via pieces primarily influenced by the last ten or so years of ‘new old school’ death metal congeal.

In fact Cancer Void‘s ability to summon surreal horror via brief instrumental, each provided by differently initialed folks, ends up being a major highlight of ‘First Metastasis’ in terms of reactivating ye olde lizard-brained emulation of horror movie soundtrack themes for the purpose of introducing death metal songs. As a result a foreboding, eerie headspace primes the coming damage to the death metal ear herein… and at one point it even threatens to outshine some of their actual death metal pieces. Opener “Breeding Pyramids” holds up pretty well though, rightfully set up front as the introductory song with plenty of riffs to grind through. Despite the weak fade-out of the song its insistent movement, changes of pace and gutturally dropped vocals make for an entertaining first strike delivered with conviction.

The hardcorish mid-paced drone of “Encased in Veins” is less interesting though the slower drone out of the song in its final third briefly recalled Drowned to my ear and the solo at the end offers something unreal and extreme to feed the step into standout interlude, “Interlude”. It is kind of funny that the interludium on this album kinda distracts from/overtakes the death metal songs which surround it by presence alone, at least in my case. When I tried to recall what’d happened on the full listen it was that piece that’d been the actual earworm to stick around for, though ultimately the riffs are what made the whole deal worthy. I’ve said this a few times these last few months, a lot of death metal musicians have sharper taste in horror synth than they do riffs but this band do well to balance both into a contained, not-so redundant listening experience; Not to be outdone entirely “Ammonia Baths” is the big single worthy moment beyond, presenting not only a high standard for modern ‘old school’ styled music videos but a cool way to hype a song without taking themselves too seriously. If we can accuse the band of being disciples of (recent) Undergang for any reason it is probably that video, well, and the Carcass-esque riff flying around ~1:40 minutes into the song itself.

At just over ~20 minutes you’ll probably want to re-spin this EP a dozen times before you’ve gleaned all of its action. Per my own experience the last song here, “Cosmic Caverns of Extinction”, is probably the one to hold up best beyond the hyped energy brought on by ‘First Metastasis‘ as it arrives. As is the case with most mid-paced, brand new ‘old school’ aesthetic inspired groups of late Cancer Void are at their best when leaning into the extremes available to death-doom metal for the sake of contrast, alternating between hairier blasts and creating serious tension with chunkier breaks in the riffcraft. For that final song we get the thrashing and punkish side of the band (see also: parts of “Encased in Veins”) for a well-rounded song, an example of the band at their most imposing.

Cancer Void make one Hell of a first impression with this debut EP in terms of their energetic command of simple enough riffcraft, an attack which is smartly split between rapacious spiraling attacks and dread-filled slow going doomed movements. Though not every riff here stokes the mind into wonderment their capably carved passage reads as an appreciably horrified psyche, a dynamic trip through cosmic horror themed death which is altogether above average. ‘First Metastasis‘ might catch some ears for its class interludes, and they’d need to keep it up on a full-length in that sense, but the innards of this record should ultimately impress those seeking refuge away from purely barbaric shit. A moderately high recommendation.

---