Chaos Over Cosmos is a two-person act, formed over the wonders of the internet by Rafal Bowman in Poland and Javier Calderón (Spain). After one release, Javier stepped back from the project and Rafal found Joshua Ratcliff in Australia to fill his boots. It’s almost as if Rafal doesn’t want to meet his bandmates!
This new album is a sprawling proggy work, six tracks with three over 8 minutes in length and one not much shorter. It’s a mix of the more traditional prog sounds with some heavier tones, and a good use of various vocal styles. Joshua is credited with the singing, but it certainly sounds at times that there are more than even just two voices involved.
My usual method for listening to anything prog, regardless of the genre it spawns from, is to pop it on as background music. I usually find it’s a little long-winded and I like to see if it drags me in. The Ultimate Multiverse managed this on several occasions, usually due to some ear-catching riffs. The final two minutes of “One Hundred”, for instance, and the opening of “Consumed” with its black metal-esque screams.
Chaos Over Cosmos bring some wide-ranging influences into their prog mix. Sounds usually associated with black and death metal battle against synth tones usually more associated with power metal. The vocals in particular make the band sound much larger than its two .
Prog and its offshoots generally aren’t my kind of thing, but I’ve listened to this album about a dozen times while reviewing it. That should tell you something.
The Ultimate Multiverse is out on June 20th
Chaos Over Cosmos: facebook
