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This band is a little different in terms of the past reviews and discussions on our blog here, but it’s good nonetheless, obviously, or why would we be reviewing and recommending it to you.
So we jump from Tartarus in the UAE to Cntmpt in Germany. Cntmpt are a three piece as far as we can gather, they were formed in 2011 and hail from Leipzig, Saxony. As always the links for everything to do with them can be found underneath this chunk of writing here, at the end.

The EP we’re talking about is a self-titled 9-track released, according to the bands bandcamp page, in JAnuary 2014, making it their most recent release. We started off a little apprehensive as the band have classified themselves as atmospheric black metal, and that can be a hit and miss area for some of us here at UU. The first track ‘I’ (all tracks are labelled in roman numerals) almost threw us way off as it is indeed a kind of slow building, no-punchline, atmospheric song. However, after that we never looked back. The tone changes during the second track, keeping it’s atmospheric foundations but using fantastic harmonies and more frenetic guitar asides to build a really interesting song. It’s well structured and atmospheric but not at all static or repetitive.

In fact, this trend continues as we wait for the lull that usually accompanies atmospheric albums (for me at least). Each song is an independant track with no run on instrumentals connecting things together. The atmosphere of the album can’t be denied, it’s just not the atmosphere we’d associate with ABM. There’s a feeling of urgency in the songs, a rush to the next riff, bridge, the next track. Yet it comes off as a perfectly planned and organised rush, a controlled chaos. We think this is awesome, actually. While it’s easy to define the album ‘Cntmpt’ as a black metal album, and in some senses an ABM album, the term “atmospheric black metal” just doesn’t cut it here. We like a little upset in genre-titling.

Track 9 finishes us out gracefully, with another precision lull smothered in good riffs and clever structure. Really, if this is atmospheric black metal these days, count us back in.

Here’s some links to get to these guys yourself:

http://www.facebook.com/cntmpt
http://cntmpt.bandcamp.com/

And as always, your hosts:

http://www.facebook.com/ultimateululation
ultimateululation@gmail.com

If you like these reviews, these bands, or if you hate them, we appreciate any spreading of our pages (here or fb). It means we get to meet more people, hear more bands, and share more music.

Until Next Time,
UU