When I was 4 years old I lived in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada, home to Discorporate Music’s Cephalectomy. I don’t really remember much about living there, but what I do remember is that it seemed like the kind of place that, had I grown up there, I probably would have gone insane, which seems to be exactly what happened to Jason Nichols and Corey Andrews. Cephalectomy play a style of chaotic grind-death that sounds like the reincarnation of early Kataklysm, with the deep grizzly bear growls, banshee shrieks, lyrics and overall atmosphere. Cephalectomy, however, are merely influenced by Kataklysm, their overall sound is all their own, mixing various different elements into one destructive package. Having heard all of their previous material, my first impression when hearing Eclipsing The Dawn was that I couldn’t believe just how much the music writing had progressed. The songs aren’t merely tossed together; they’re carefully crafted and well written. While their last album had a sound that could easily fit into the goregrind genre, Eclipsing The Dawn is the first Cephalectomy recording to have a clean enough production to be able to distinguish all of the elements. Lyrically, the influence of Sylvain Houde and Trey Azagthoth is obvious, with bizarre ramblings fit for the lockdown unit of a local asylum. I suspect Corey actually goes into some sort of trance-state while writing lyrics, insisting all that know him to refer to him as "The Elder One" while wearing a Viking helmet and a cape, constantly quoting the Conan movies, screaming in his car going through the McDonald’s drive thru about how he will crush the cook until he hears the lamentations of the women if they screw up his order. Well, at least that’s how weird Sylvain got, so I can only assume the same can be true of Mr. Andrews. Overall, the album is hit and miss. Songs like "Of Grievance And Exhumation… (The Fallen)", "Dragons Upon The Mountains Of Mashu" and the instrumental "Squalid Eyes Of The Impending Treachery" are impossible to stop once you’ve hit play, but others, like "Espousing The Lore Of Ancient Mythos" and "Invocate The Tempests To Castigation" are so easy to skip I don’t even bother letting the opening riffs begin before skipping to the next tracks. If you’re looking for a solid blend of melody and chaos with the most guttural growls in music today, then Eclipsing The Dawn is the album to get, even if you don’t like every song, there’s enough on here to keep even my fickle tastes happy.

Written By: Teufel