Tech Death Band Cognitive Drop Video for the Brutal track "Insidious"!

Photo by Chris Hosey

Technical death metal quintet, COGNITIVE, is pleased to unleash their new video for “Insidious.” The rampaging new track comes by way of the band’s Abhorrence full-length, released May 17th on Metal Blade Records.

Abhorrence finds the New Jersey powerhouse at their brutal best. Once accurately championed by Kerrang Magazine for composing songs that land with “cartilage-crushing force,” Abhorrence carries on band tradition with its a maniacal fusion of relentless riffs and thoughtful, devastating lyrics making for a raging, draining, and ultimately fulfilling experience.

An exercise in aural turbulence, each track on Abhorrence takes its listener on a magnificently traumatic journey. “Our lyrics for this record are all over the place,” notes guitarist Rob Wharton. “There’s some stuff about video games and addiction and mental health. To me, that’s the kind of subject matter that hits home because everyone’s got stuff going on in their lives. It’s relatable.”

Comments Wharton on “Insidious,” “A finger-fancy opening soon leads to slam-heavy grooves and well-articulated vocals, with lyrics about addiction, and a chorus/breakdown that always comes back for more.”

Watch COGNITIVE’s video for “Insidious” at THIS LOCATION. 

Watch the band’s previously released videos for “Abhorrence” HERE and “A Pact Unholy” HERE.

COGNITIVE started work on Abhorrence while touring in support of Malevolent Thoughts Of A Hastened Extinction, sending tracks back and forth while trekking from one intense gig to the next. Drummer AJ Viana has his own studio (he’s previously worked with bands as prestigious as Hath) and recorded, tracked, and mixed the album, before Ryan Williams (The Black Dahlia Murder, John Frum) at Metal Blade Records mastered it.

COGNITIVE’s Abhorrence is available on CD and digital formats as well as vinyl in the following color variants:

Crimson Void (US retail)

Gilded Abyss (EU + US Metal Blade Webstore – Ltd. 400)

Find orders at: metalblade.com/cognitive.

COGNITIVE recently announced a ten-date headlining tour in July with support from Dysentery and Atræ Bilis. In September, the band will play this year’s edition of the Metal Injection Fest in Brooklyn, New York before joining Benighted on their Canadian Infestation tour. See all confirmed dates below.

COGNITIVE w/ Dysentery, Atræ Bilis:

7/18/2024 Dingbatz - Clifton, NJ

7/19/2024 Ralph's Diner - Worcester, MA

7/20/2024 Empire - Albany, NY

7/21/2024 The Shred Shed - Pittsburgh, PA

7/22/2024 E Street Pub - Richmond, IN

7/23/2024 JJs Bohemia - Chattanooga, TN

7/25/2024 The Milestone - Charlotte, NC

7/26/2024 Riffhouse Pub - Virginia Beach, VA

7/27/2024 Shamrock Inn - Baltimore, MD

7/28/2024 The Kennel at West York Inn - York, PA

End Tour

9/21/2024 Metal Injection Fest – Brooklyn, NY

w/ Benighted:

9/22/2024 QG – Rouyn Noranda, QC

9/23/2024 Piranha Bar – Montreal, QC

9/24/2024 Rainbow Bistro – Ottawa, ON

9/26/2024 Rum Runners – London, ON

9/27/2024 Warehouse – St Catharines, ON

9/28/2024 The Back Stage – Windsor, ON

9/29/2024 Sneaky Dee's – Toronto, ON

9/30/2024 l'Anti – Quebec City, QC

"Between Job For A Cowboy and Cattle Decapitation, COGNITIVE are in good company with Metal Blade. The quintet from New Jersey has also developed from a relatively conventional grind/deathcore band into a fiddly extreme metal hybrid that still prefers to contrast blast beats with downtempo parts, but also allows for melodies and generally values skilled craftsmanship puts. The sound is correspondingly transparent and powerful, but not soulless." -- Rock Hard Germany

"Abhorrence radiates with confidence and vision, building upon the near-perfect blend of technical-but-still-catchy death metal and hard-hitting deathcore that they've spent their career refining to a science, but also fearlessly delving into new territory by adding a pinch of melody this time around, to great effect." -- New Noise

"I suggest this release to not only fans of the death metal genre but metal fans looking for something super heavy and technically superior. This album is definitely designed to be played at eleven." -- The Metal Pit

"COGNITIVE delivered a commanding and angry record that was impressive in its musicianship, as well as its brutality. I picture this record making a lot of Best Death Metal lists of 2024. Highly recommend the record." -- This Day In Metal

"With their fifth album, the North Americans prove their impressive musical potential and actually develop some great songs from them." -- Metal.de

"...the thing just rips and rips and rips..." -- Wonderbox Metal  



COGNITIVE:

Rob Wharton – guitars

Harry Lannon – guitars

Shane Jost – vocals

Tyler Capone-Vitale – bass

AJ Viana – drums

For COGNITIVE coverage contact liz@earsplitcompound.com.

https://www.facebook.com/Cognitivenj 

https://twitter.com/cognitive_nj 

https://www.instagram.com/cognitive_nj 

https://www.metalblade.com

https://www.facebook.com/metalbladerecords

https://www.instagram.com/metalbladerecords

https://twitter.com/MetalBlade

https://www.metalblade.com/museum

________________________________________________________

There ends the press release. As such, I wanted to mention, on a side note, that I been listening to the latest release from Cognitive, Abohorence, since the weekend. And, I just can't stop! It's heavy, brutal, and has a killer groove and is a great mix of tech death with deathcore elements. I highly recommend it. Any fellows fans of this band? Any thoughts on this single/ video? Let me know in the comments section below.

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Rivers of Nihil/ Entheos Live at Saint Vitus- Brooklyn, NY 04/06/19

On April 6, 2019, Rivers of Nihil/ Entheos had a sold out and truly killer show at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, NY, and I was on hand to bring you all the brutal details! Both bands played, in entirety, their last releases resulting in an absolute ass kicker of a night!

Entheos, the first band I got to catch on this night, is a progressive death metal act comprised of members of various other metal bands. I have been a huge fan of them since their excellent debut album The Infinite Nothing . Their second and latest release is the complex, yet groove laden Dark Future (2017). It is an album that gets better and better with every listening, and one which they played all of, on this night.

The band totally decimates live! They are fierce and superbly talented, playing music that is incredibly technical with true proficiency. Singer Chaney Crabb is one of the best vocalists in extreme metal, today. She has an awesome sounding variety of screams, which drive the musically brutality further (even more so live!). And, she has one hell of stage presence with a ton of energy to spare. The audience responded in spades with a brutal as fucking hell mosh pit!

 

Up next were the headliners, Rivers of Nihil. Finally the band that had been the opening acting for countless of other bands are headlining. This is thanks to the modern masterwork that is Where Owls Know My Name. This absolutely amazing and spectacular work of technical death metal made mine and many others lists of the best metal of last year. Like the Entheos album, it, too, was played in its entirety om this night (as it has been during this whole tour). They even bought their saxophone player which makes them sound and look so unique in the death metal world.




Rivers it is not hyper-boil when I say that Rivers is one of the very best live acts in metal, today. They also inspired one of the greatest pits that I have ever been in or seen, and perhaps the greatest ever in a small venue. It is very likely the best pit that Saint Vitus has ever had, in fact, every single person there that night was a part of it. There was even a fucking wall of death! Your intrepid reporter has bruises all over my right leg, and I can fucking tell that it was well worth them! Why? Because, I had an absolute motherfucking blast at the show.

And, that's the thing about Rivers. For despite how unquestionably heavy they are, they're also a lot of fun. And, it is clear that they, themselves are having a good time. Despite the complexity of their music, they never come off as pretentious. The fact is that everybody, from fan to band to press, had an awesome time.

   

 This fan got onstage with both Entheos and Rivers of Nihil and sang with both band's respective signers. 

In all, this ranks as one of my favorite live shows that I have ever attended. If you are a fan of either band or love extreme metal, you need to catch Rivers of Nihil and Entheos, the first chance that you get!

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Whitechapel/ The Black Dahlia Murder Live at Stage 48 in NYC- 6/15/18

On June 15, 2018, I had the fucking awesome pleasure of attending and covering a truly brutal concert. That of co-headliners Whitechapel (pic above) and The Black Dahlia Murder playing at Stage 48 in NYC.

The first band, I got see at the show was Aversions Crown. A viciously heavy and groove laden deathcore act from Australia, these guys bought full blown carnage onstage. The music is pummeling and really wants to get moshing and moving around. As a live act, they have a shit ton of energy and aggression, which makes for a great experience. They can count on a new fan in me after experiencing this!

Next up was Italian tech-death metal masters Fleshgod Apocalypse. As soon as they get onstage, they will catch your interest. Dressed in frilly costumes, they look like something out of a period piece, but they combine the look with ghostly make-up. It gives them an otherworldly look and feel. This combines perfectly with their sound. The playing is complex and heavy as fuck, and it rounds off nicely with the female backing vocals. She and their look gives them a gothic look, feel, and sound which counterplays with the viciousness. It makes them distinct in a sea of other acts from this sub-genre.

Then, it was time for the first of the two-headliners, the mighty The Black Dahlia Murder. These guys are not only one of the finest melo-death acts, ever, but they are also absolutely KILLER live. They have such a fucking amazing amount of energy and are utterly crushing in their performances.

They always have sick pits, and this was no different. The fact that fans could get onstage and could stage-dive (something that was also done during in the following Whitechapel set) insured this further!

On this tour, they are playing their entire latest album, the absolutely KILLER Nightbringers, which I had picked as the best release of 2017. As such, hearing all of it live is a true treat. They also threw a couple of classic TBDM songs.

Setlist:

Widowmaker

Of God and Serpent, of Spectre and Snake

Contagion

Matriarch

Nightbringers

Jars

Kings of the Nightworld

What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse

Catacomb Hecatomb

As Good as Dead

The Lonely Deceased

Everything Went Black

Statutory Ape

Deathmask Divine

Up next were Whitechapel, my asbolute favorite deathcore act. And, holy fuck did they ever put on one hell of a fucking live show! They have energy to spare live and are absolutely merciless and truly destroy. Their pummeling music resulted in a sick as fuck pit that threatened to swallow the whole venue! Not even the fact that they had stop roughly midway through when singer Phil Bozeman's mic went out could stop them or the crowd!

This year marks the tenth anniversary of their second album the classic, This Is Exile. As such, they are playing the punishing album in its entirety, during this tour.

Setlist:

 Father of Lies

This Is Exile

Possession

To All that Are Dead

Exalt

Somatically Incorrect

(Abbreviated thanks to loss of mic sound)

Death Becomes Him

Daemon (The Procreated)

Eternal Refuge

Of Legions

Messiahbolical

This was one of fuck of a brutal and ass kicking show. If you can catch this tour, be sure to do just that!

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