Uprising! Records’ progressive metal band Needless released their second album „The Cosmic Cauldron” this month! Read more about the band and the album in our article!
Band: Needless (HUN)
Album: The Cosmic Cauldron (2022)
Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Backstory of Needless: the band was founded in the winter of 2004 in Dánszentmiklós, which started as a four-piece hobby band at home and slowly grew into an active group by 2014. Their music consists of the more traditional elements of melodic thrash and death metal, with a touch of black metal and some progressive elements. All this is blended with a mixture of aggression, mythical themes and a nihilistic contemplation of humanity in the lyrics.
On March 21, 2015, they released their EP – now expanded to five band members – entitled „The Dark Spirit of Ages„, which received a very positive response from critics and audiences alike. After the release, they played several concerts with bands such as Aggression, Nervosa, Nuclear, Dew-Scented and Flotsam And Jetsam.
After a short break and a change of members, they released the single „Stalkers of Athanasia„, heralding the release of their first full-length album „Heresy” on 23 June 2019, which was recorded with the original five-piece line-up mentioned in the previous paragraph. It also received a lot of positive reviews both at home and abroad.
The band’s new album „The Cosmic Cauldron” was released on January 7, 2022 by the German label Uprising! Records worldwide.
Current Line-up:
Ádám Forczek - singer-songwriter László Bánfalvi - bass Botond Kasper - drums Tamás Bárány - guitar Botond Fogl - guitar
„The Cosmic Cauldron” is a very massive, substantial concept album of almost an hour, which tries to tell a larger story under the sci-fi banner. Singer Ádám Forczek outlined the story as follows:
„Imagine a world in which a divided humanity has already moved to the stars and is fighting its battles there. During a fatal war, a handful of survivors open a dimensional doorway to a previously unknown corner of space. Here they have their first encounter with an alien species, and begin their ordeal, during which an unworldly entity will seal their fate and the fate of the universe: the Cosmic Cauldron!”
One song that you shouldn’t miss: „The Predation”
With its 7 minutes,
„The Predation” is the second longest track on the album, yet it’s probably one of the best! It manages to make this relatively long playing time sufficiently varied and interesting without feeling stale. A slow, melancholic, yet ominous opening. Then we get into the swing of things and the song becoming more and more violent. The track is boosted a lot by the chanting parts and the soft background vocals in the chorus, which give the song a more sublime and grandiose sound. I’d also highlight the more melodic, emotive sounding segment towards the end of the song, which is surprising but refreshing, giving us a little time to catch our breath and for the final devastating chorus. If the question was which track I would recommend first from the album, it would definitely be „The Predation”, as these guys packed everything they could from the album’s arsenal!
Needless – The Predation
And one more: Planet Oblivion
„Planet Oblivion” is a bit of an outlier on the disc in terms of style, but it’s still a good thing to have on there! This time, instead of death and trash metal, we get a ballad that is extremely atmospheric, soft, but also scratches where it needs to! The track features guest vocalist Martina Horváth (Thy Catafalque), who was a great choice for the duet. The chemistry between the two singers works really well. They create something wonderful in symbiosis, complementing each other well while neither overwhelming or outbidding the other. „Planet Oblivion” is absolutely one of the jewels of the album and not to be missed!
Needless – Planet Oblivion ft. Martina Horváth (Thy Catafalque)
Needless – The Cosmic Cauldron (album summary)
The Cosmic Cauldron is a great journey, a real adventure! Both in terms of length and the emotional rollercoaster you ride when listening to an album. Sound-wise, it’s a great representation of the troubled, restless atmosphere of the world it depicts. The anger, the despair, the fear, the hopelessness and also, in a grotesque way, the beauty of it all wrapped in ambivalence! This is a thoughtfully put together album, backed by a richly sonorous instrumental and heavy, suitably confident vocals! Worth a try! You won’t regret it!
TRACKLIST
- Warvoid A.D. (6:26)
- Astrogate The Spectral Lane (3:42)
- The Predation (7:08)
- Mournful Heavens (5:39)
- The Cosmic Cauldron (5.32)
- Odium (4:10)
- The Prism Fortress (4:46)
- Chrononaut (4:56)
- Planet Oblivion (4:49)
- Transgalactic (10:06)
The album can be purchased in physical format from the label (Uprising! Records) and worldwide through major European labels such as Nuclear Blast Records, Season of Mist and Napalm Records, or Spiritual Beast in Japan:
https://uprisingrecords.de/2021/10/18/needless/
https://napalmrecords.com/english/the-cosmic-cauldron-cd.html
https://www.nuclearblast.com/eu/needless-the-cosmic-cauldron-cd-1000100
https://shop.season-of-mist.com/fr/needless-the-cosmic-cauldron-cd
https://spiritual-beast.shop/items/61ac7ba5f6d7c9113410050d
The Cosmic Cauldron is available in Hungary from the albamusic.hu webshop and in a very limited number of copies from the band.
If you’re interested in Needless and want to experience the songs of the album live, you can do it at the BERSERK FEST on February 19 at KVLT in Budapest! You can find the link to the event below!
BERSERK FEST: https://fb.me/e/1a8bJhu0j
Label (Uprising Records): https://uprisingrecords.de/2021/10/18/needless/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/needlesshun/
Bandcamp: https://targetgroup.bandcamp.com/album/the-cosmic-cauldron
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/needless_metal/?hl=hu
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/official-needless
YouTube: https://youtu.be/cf3dr8iZft0
Spotify: https://sptfy.com/6z1Y
by: Traidusk & Wolfy
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