Dallas, TX tech-grind quintet Cognizant offer up 17 minutes of absolutely devastating chaos with this self-titled album. After releasing 2015's EPiphany under their previous moniker Amygdala, Cognizant marks a rebirth of sorts. The album picks up where the band left off in terms of musical intensity, but they've taken it a step further into the avant-garde here.
Cognizant is fast and unpredictable throughout its short runtime, featuring technical guitar work as well as inhuman drumming courtesy of Bryan Fajardo (Gridlink, Noisear, Kill the Client, etc.). "Hyper-Dimensional Inflation" starts the album off with a barrage of brutal, angular riffs that are anything but straightforward, featuring the oddest of odd time signatures. The unorthodox song structures continue throughout the release, as tracks like "Adrift" and "Dichotomy" combine the progressive tech-death elements of Gorguts and Artificial Brain with dark, visceral dissonance.
Although it's short, less is definitely more on Cognizant, and it makes a hell of an impact. Despite its length, the album is full of quality songwriting and precise musicianship, as well as so much intricate complexity that anything longer would just be too exhausting to process all at once.
(No Why Records)Cognizant is fast and unpredictable throughout its short runtime, featuring technical guitar work as well as inhuman drumming courtesy of Bryan Fajardo (Gridlink, Noisear, Kill the Client, etc.). "Hyper-Dimensional Inflation" starts the album off with a barrage of brutal, angular riffs that are anything but straightforward, featuring the oddest of odd time signatures. The unorthodox song structures continue throughout the release, as tracks like "Adrift" and "Dichotomy" combine the progressive tech-death elements of Gorguts and Artificial Brain with dark, visceral dissonance.
Although it's short, less is definitely more on Cognizant, and it makes a hell of an impact. Despite its length, the album is full of quality songwriting and precise musicianship, as well as so much intricate complexity that anything longer would just be too exhausting to process all at once.