Cephalectomy

Masterful Magazine

Since the mid 1990's Canada's Cephalectomy have been churning out their relentless "Sorcery" era Kataklysm inspired death metal. On this stopgap EP "The Dream Cycle Mythos" the band present their most vicious, technical and varied material to date since "Eclipsing the Dawn" (2004) and "Sign Of Chaos" (2000). From jagged frantic riffing, dense and complex song structure to the excessive blasting, the bestial vocal lines and otherworldly lyrical prose everything about this release screams a fixation with Sylvain Houde fronted Kataklysm. On this plus 23 minute single track epic Cephalectomy display more technical finesse, more songwriting prowess and overall originality than most of its contemporaries and possible inspirations. This one track goes through more contrasting sections of melody and brutality, sudden tempo changes, soothing orchestratal sections and interesting dynamics than most bands do on an entire record. Cephalectomy are masters of their craft and this EP should be able introduce them to an international audience. Recorded at the band's own Mystigrind Studios "The Dream Cycle Mythos" comes with a bone-dusting pristine production that can easily compete with latest releases of bands such as Behemoth, Vader or Kataklysm. Coming with stunning artwork by Jason Nichols which reminds a bit of Omnium Gatherum's "Stuck Here On Snake's Way" in composition and execution. "The Dream Cycle Mythos" can easily compete with any major label backed release out there today. For all intents and purposes, Cephalectomy do this genre with much more gusto and conviction than the originators themselves.

Teufel's Tomb

Cephalectomy is one strange beast. I bought their 2004 effort Eclipsing the Dawn on a whim and I fucking loved every minute of it. They brought about this strange, Lovecraftian-obsessed technical grind band that was being straddled and simultaneously given the reach around by old school Kataklysm, spewing its load on the listener. And it was an amazing, dare I say homo-erotically gratifying and tasty load at that. You wanted to be made Cephalectomy's bitch and Cephalectomy's bitch you were made.

This split- on the other hand- sees a more reserved side of Cephalectomy. The crazy "mystigrind" of past releases is still there, but the effort is focused around a more forward death/grind approach obsessed with horror films. The dual screech/beast vocals are ever present, sounding like a tumbling battle between a banshee and a behemoth locked in mortal combat. The drum work isn't just a stream of linear, constant blast beats and demonstrates a nice variety of rhythm and structure. The riffs haven't deviated too far from the catchy, yet insane sound of Eclipsing the Dawn yet they do show a better harnessing of melody and structure. And the horror motif is caught perfectly by Cephalectomy: running the gamut from Herbert West in "Resurrection Injection" to horror's favorite Michele Soavi film in "Dellamorte, Dellamore" the split gives Cephalectomy the best shit to fuse with their catchy, insane death/grind. Fucking ace material is what to be had by Cephalectomy on this split.

Then there is the matter of Bound In Human Flesh. The band is new to me, yet is headed by a pretty familiar name. It started as a one man death metal project by Jamie Vautour, one of the blokes behind Obscene Eulogy, a Canadian Impaled Nazarene clone that actually had the distinction of getting Mika from Impaled Nazarene on vocals. Given his work with Obscene Eulogy, I wasn't too excited going into this side of the split. Obscene Eulogy had its ups and downs, but ultimately it fell to the way side on my cd player.

And this more than likely will be the fate befalling Bound In Human Flesh, too. It's standard, catchy blackened death metal with a drum machine pounding away in the background. The riffs are enjoyable and fast as hell, and the drum programming is definitely better than some grindcore bands I've heard, but it comes across as overly simplistic and derivative. The music is by all means catchy- and "Zombie Children" is pretty god damn cool in all respects- but in the end there's nothing stopping you from hitting the skip button on this half of the split. It's definitely worthy of a few listens though.

The Cephalectomy material definitely makes this release a worthy grab. They pound the material into your skull like a horrible mud wrestling match between a bikini-ed Cthulhu and Stuart Gordon, getting down and dirty in their chaotic grind. Bound In Human Flesh doesn't fare as well, but is worth a look, kind of like a half-way attractive ring girl calling the rounds at the mud wrestling match. Give it a shot!

Eclipsing The Dawn (2004)

Never Ending Hate Webzine

True Northern Mystigrind!!!!!!! What is that you ask? Mystigrind is as told by the band themselves: "Uncompromising,extreme death metal with melodic Scandinavian metal and a touch of power metal riffing to create a sound that is truely unique." It is nearly impossible to compare CEPHALECTOMY to anything other than their own entity. Some of the influences I heard while lisetening to Eclipsing The Dawn were everything from MALIGNANCY to CEPHALIC CARNAGE to KATAKLYSM to IRON MAIDEN to MAYHEM. If you were to throw all of those above mentioned bands into a big blender,you would have CEPHALECTOMY (or at least a massacre on your hands). Fans of black metal,death metal,grindcore,thrash metal, power metal,and/or any other hybrid of metal will get something out of listening to CEPHALECTOMY's Eclipsing The Dawn. Depending on what genre of metal you most prefer,you will get your own ideas of what Eclipsing The Dawn meens to you. It's like one of those pick your own ending novels where you pick the ending that best suits you. I can not think of even one other band that can top that!!!!! Fuck straight forward song crafting,it's boring most of the time,CEPHALECTOMY knows this. They have sick time-changes,breakdowns,melodies, layer upon layer of varied vocal stylings of sheer brutality. For instance; a song could start off with a beautiful melodic part and then break loose into a whirlwind fury and then into a breakdown to a spoken passage and then into another time-change!!!!!! CEPHALECTOMY have the balls to take chances when other bands just remain the same album after album. Experience True Northern Mystigrind for yourself,and head out and pick up CEPHALECTOMY's Eclipsing The Dawn,it's a complete mindfuck!!!!!!

Ontario Metal

After Sign of Choas, there were rumours that Cephalectomy would not be making any more music, especially as one of the two band members had left Nova Scotia for Alberta. Eclipsing the Dawn is proof that you can't keep a good (evil?) band down.

The lyrics to Eclipsing the Dawn read like they could be a Lovecraft story, with various members of the Lovecraftian pantheon being invoked, including everyone's favorite squid-head, Cthulhu, who also makes a guest appearance on the cover art, which harkens back to the early 90's Swedish death metal cover art.

Musically, this new Cephalectomy disc continues in the vein of Dark Waters Rise and Sign of Chaos, with a maddening number of tempo changes, alternating shrieks and growls, overlapping vocals, and general musical mayhem. The more melodic elements that began to appear in Sign of Chaos make themselves apparent once more, with briefly discernable melodic parts in the chaos, and actual melodic and acoustic breaks. Also added to the Cephalectomy sound are some black metal and doom elements, such as wall-of-sound style guitars ala Primordial, to slow, crushing doom. Also added are some hardcore shout-vocals, and Raland Kinley (of Dichotic) as the voice of God, a role I'm certain he was all too eager to play.

Yet, it's not all serious, as the Monastat 7-like break near the start of "Discerning Thee Apocryphal Divinity" clearly demonstrates. Overall, a top-notch album from a killer Canadian band.

BTW, check out their website for a bunch of bonus material, including some covers, the Dark Waters Rise Demo, and a rare live video of Cephalectomy.

The Metal Observer/The Undergrowth

In whirlwind of blasts, tortured shrieks, precision riffing and demonic growls, the blasphemers known as CEPHALECTOMY have returned in 2004 with an album no extreme Metal fan should overlook. Having categorized themselves as "True Northern Mystigrind", one would be hard pressed to more accurately label the aural chaos found on "Eclipsing The Dawn", the band's third release. With their 1998 demo "Dark Waters" and 2000's "Sign Of Chaos" already on their resume, the band have succeeded in remaining consistent in the underground extreme Metal scene despite their location (CEPHALECTOMY hail from Truro, Nova Scotia on the east coast of Canada) and continue to do so with "Eclipsing The Dawn".

Completely and utterly uncompromising, to label CEPHALECTOMY as merely a Death or Black Metal band would be an insult to the material in question. By layering shrieks and low-end growls over a backdrop of frantic yet extremely tight drumming and precise, oftentimes catchy riffing (with some clean guitars thrown into the mix), "Eclipsing The Dawn" is as unique as it is chaotic. On the lyrical end, CEPHALECTOMY refuse to take the easy way out by allowing the mystical themes of H.P. Lovecraft to come alive on each of the album's eight compositions, adding yet another dimension to their sound. Even more impressive and more than worthy of mention, is the fact that all of the music apparent on "Eclipsing The Dawn", save for additional vocal duties, were performed by one man. His name is Corey Andrews and how he managed to perform all guitars, bass and drums on this album (as well as contributing vocals) is really beyond me. Either way, it is basically impossible to question the effort and commitment that was put into the making of this release, which is something that is apparent over the course of its duration.

Fans of all things extreme should easily find something worth banging their heads to upon encountering the madness that is CEPHALECTOMY's latest brew of blasphemy. Though I could further attempt to describe this release, I believe the press release said it best: "'Eclipsing The Dawn' promises to kill you and each of your family members slowly and painfully with each listen." Need I say more? (Online June 29, 2004)

Back To The Grave

I was taken aback by the opener Of Grievance and Exhumation… (The Fallen): a calm, melodic sound suddenly bursts into moments of relentless brutality – excellent drum work and speed, speed, speed. Vocals are unmistakeably rotten and vary from the deep grunted to the slit shores. Midway through the song there is yet another acoustic moment – I would say it complements brutality by enhancing it. But before babbling further on the album itself, please allow me to introduce the band. CEPHALECTOMY have released ’98 demo Dark Waters Rise, which earned them a deal with Discorporate Music, via which followed the debut CD Sign of Chaos (2001) and the present piece of masterful mystigrind art Eclipsing the Dawn (2004).

CEPHALECTOMY officially play Mystigrind, which should be a myriad of influences ranging from H. P. Lovecraft's writings to whatever the insane minds of mastermind Corey Andrews and evil bard Jason Nichols have to offer. And that is saying a lot, because Eclipsing the Dawn is variation impersonated (not to be taken for experimentalism).

Discerning thee Apocryphal Divinity starts off as a rather doomy song, in the old ANATHEMA/ CANDLEMASS vein, only to be brutally murdered and transformed in some amorphous proposal of brutality. In fact, despite the ever-present frenzy madness, CEPHALECTOMY never set melody aside, and Eclipsing the Dawn varies from brutal grind to an almost symphonic level of melody, alternating madness with bonanza. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. This is powerful stuff we have here. CEPHALECTOMY have also managed to include a sample of The Lord of the Rings (‘Are you frightnened? | Yes…| Not nearly frightened enough.’) intertwined with musical responses. That is a rather innovating detail.

I could not help noticing I keep writing ‘they’ when I am not sure it is fair. CEPHALECTOMY is the result of one man’s effort – Corey Andrews – on guitar, bass, drums and vocals, with a little help from Jason Nichols’ demonic voice and lyricism. There is one Rob Decoste character responsible for ‘crimes against humanity’, but I still have not quite figured what it represents. There is only one slight problem to the recording: vocals are not always clearly perceptible, an aspect the band will probably bear in mind in their next opus of maleficent tyranny.

What else can I write about Eclipsing the Dawn? It is an album to remember, to say the least – unique and very different from what is or ever was practised in the Death/ Black music scenario. CEPHALECTOMY’s mystigrind is light-years above mediocrity and present their music in rather complex ways. A proof that Canada has a lot to offer (just think of CRYPTOPSY and ORIGIN).

Digital Metal

Do you miss old Kataklysm? Do you miss the mystical hyper-blasting and over the top lyrical, otherworldly vocalizations of Sylvain Houde? Well, Country mates Cephalectomy are for you dear reader. Nova Scotia’s Cephalectomy have released a superb album that re-creates the Northern hyper-blasting of Sorcery; insanely fast brutal death/grind with surprising amounts of intricate, layered melodies and a Lovecraftian concept with multiple characters (all vocalized with unearthly growls, screams and more screams) with some suitably trancelike interludes slithering amid the horrific chaos. This Canadian duo churn out some wicked songwriting, that is full on Kataklysm worship with some Lykathea Aflame-like ambience thrown in, and the end result is that Eclipsing The Dawn is one heck of a mind-altering ride. The album is a little light in the production side of things, but it actually benefits the complex multi-layered sound, rather than drown the intricacies in a wall of down tuned mud. The programmed drums are seamlessly integrated (I actually could not tell they were programmed until I read it elsewhere) into the maelstrom of the continually shifting guitars. Opening salvo “Of Grievance and Exhumation (The Fallen)” simply blew me away right out of the gate, (the break at 1:33 being particularly breathtaking) and other than dragging slightly due to longer, more epic songs, the album is pretty much a completely satisfying, liquefying album. As per their obvious peers, songs are broken into various chapters and characters dialogue, often with the shift from song to song undetectable without the LED readout in front of you. As “Espousing the Lore of Ancient Mythos” starts without a split second hesitation from the already impressive opener, I’m wandering if I’ve ever heard such mindfully melodic brutality that retains both technical savagery and well rounded harmonies, despite the raucous vocals patterns fighting to relay their characters lines. I’ll admit after the first 2 superb songs, the album levels out somewhat, but still manages to deliver the same mix of grindcore chaos and an almost blackened sense of grim yet epic melody. Fairly often, acoustics or synths break up the swirling vortex of monstrous noise (“Discerning Thee Apocryphal Divinity”, “The Ghosts of Reprisal and Strife”), and that’s where Lykathea Aflame rose as a comparison, with a nightmarish tranquility and grandiosity mixed in with the already ritualistic atmosphere. The haunting instrumental song “Squalid Eyes of Impending Treachery” shows Cephalectomy’s lack of rigid grindcore schematics, instead allowing themselves to breathe their own air and create a break in the album that fits in with the overall concept as well as allow the listener a breather. Other than those breaks, the album is generally a cyclone of immense power, with very little traditional grindcore grooves or breakdowns. Only “Discerning Thee Apocryphal Divinity” slows down, and I mean slooooooows down to a molten crawl, with perhaps the longest growl in history. Eclipsing The Dawn certainly creates the Cthulu-ish visage of god-like horror and madness within a musical scope and the short sharp burst of “The Sundering of Eternal Sentience” puts a brutal exclamation point to a deep album with suitable closure. A perfectly balanced, well executed album of conceptual grindcore that’s not afraid to expand boundaries.

Sign of Chaos (2000)

Teufel's Tomb

Two years have passed since Cephalectomy released their Dark Waters Rise demo, a recording I openly admit to disliking, and I was extremely hesitant to even give the CD a listen. In fact the CD remained unopened on my desk for nearly two weeks before I finally decided "what the hell" and gave it a listen. I remember when I last listened to their 1998 demo I was filled with thoughts of "this band should never be signed, they're horrible", and was actually extremely disappointed to find out they had been signed by the little known Nova Scotia label Discorporate Music. Well, it seems that in those two years the band has once again improved dramatically and grown into their sound and, much to my surprise, sound like well-polished veterans, even more surprising to me was the fact that I liked what I heard, and I liked it a lot. It's amazing what a difference 18 months can make, and in the time it took to create their label debut, they seem to have improved in every aspect I had once been highly critical of. The drumming is faster and played with more authority and skill than ever before, the riffs and rhythms are far better and more entertaining than ever before and the double vocal approach has been refined to the point where I not only find them to be bearable, but totally get into them, the sickeningly deep and guttural lows especially. To say I am impressed with their improvement is an understatement. Their new tunes stick out over their previous work like Ron Jeremy's tool of the trade on a midget. The music is reminiscent of early Kataklysm in it's passionate aggression and chaotic approach, mixed with the rhythm of Swedish death metal (which was an obvious influence in Kataklysm's early days as well) and brutality of European grind. Of course the band does lose points for ass-kissing after adding me to the thanks list, even though months ago I did make both Jason and Corey cry due to comments made about Dark Waters Rise, and this was an obvious attempt to butter me up, but, on the other hand I am a cheap whore and am always overjoyed to see my name in a thanks list and have people spell "Teufel" properly. On that note, for the life of me, I still cannot understand why so many misspell it as "Tuefel", how are these people even able to find my website if they cannot even spell the first six letters of the domain name properly? Fucking whores. Anyway, that has nothing to do with this review, what does have to do with this review is that over the course of the past 5 years I have listened as these two grew from a simple death-thrash garage band to a full-fledged complex entity now worthy of the title "True Northern Mystigrind" and of the contract they signed to Discorporate. I'm glad to have been able to hear this band's progression from their very beginnings to where they've gotten to today through hard work and dedication, and look forward to hearing where the future takes their music next. Now that I have given both Jason and Corey their praise, could they please pull the knife away from my dog's throat and pull the gun away from my temple and kindly fuck off?

Chronicles of Chaos

The last time I reviewed Cephalectomy, it was their five-track demo _Dark Waters Rise_in CoC #34. Things have definitely changed for the band, both in sound and most importantly production. While still garnishing their brutal death metal attack with sounds reminiscent of Brutal Truth and Internal Bleeding, the band has managed to forge for themselves a solid death metal groove of sorts. Not bad for two guys (Jason Nichols and Corey Andrews), eh? Powerfully commanding, the band's deliverance will blow you away should you stand close enough to the speakers of your stereo system. While some might shrug them off as just another indie Canadian death metal act, Cephalectomy have proven that with time and patience, their direction and sound can be intensified -- check out tracks "The Ravaged Crimson Fields of Evanescence" or "Dimensional Manifestations of Ashen Forms". If you like your metal fast and furious, I suggest some East Coast (Canada) death metal to digest over the holidays.

Unrestrained

Once again, a mighty flow of aggression comes from Eastern Canada (Nova Scotia to be exact!) in a thundering wallop. As expected, I am knocked flat on my ass by the violent and brutal death metal work of Cephalectomy on the new disc, a definite level up in the intensity department. It seems as though the East Coast has offered up some of the best acts this country has to offer in the last little while (i.e. Dichotic, Burning Moon, Sheavy, etc.) The most appriciated aspect of the work of Cephalectomy is that it basically just presents itself as it is: brutal music. This is brutal music - it is that simple. Production here is much better than past demo efforts too. Overall, Cephalectomy has the goods. It's up to metal fans to support the Canadian music scene and see what we have to offer.

Metal Rules

From the cold land of Nova Scotia comes Cephalectomy, described as "true northern mystigrind". Well I have no idea what “mystigrind” is supposed to be, but Cephalectomy is relentless, brutal, psychotic grind with a mix of bizarre ideas and riffs, complex arrangements, and varied mental-asylum vocals meshed together to drive the listener plain bonkers! “Insanigrind” would be more like it! One man, Corey Andrews, is responsible for most of the work on Sign of Chaos, and he has done an impressive job of arranging everything, playing all of the instruments, and making everything work, even if things get a little sloppy at times. Grind, death metal, and black metal influences are evident, but Corey doesn’t blast his way through every song like typical grind bands. There are plenty of dynamics throughout, although more really slow material would be nice. And the first and last songs each contain a really short soft and clean segment, an element that, expanded upon, could result in even more variety and flavor. And I was taken by surprise when I realized that the songs here are of an abnormal length. Instead of the less-than-two-minute assaults most other grind bands write, Cephalectomy’s range from above three minutes to over six. To coincide with the chaotic, ever-changing music, twisted vocals are added and are what stand out the most on this album, for they are truly demented. Corey is assisted by a second vocalist, Jason Nichols. So while Corey provides the higher and mid-ranged vocals, not to mention all the other sick and crazy throat-slicing screaming insanity, Jason performs the lower grunts and subsonic belch vocals reminiscent of early Carcass and Demilich. Honestly, I could do without those superlow belching vocals, and at times some of Corey’s vocals are a little too ridiculous. Plus, cutting down on the amount of vocals would make room for instrumental passages, thereby allowing the music to be the focus for a change. But overall, the various vocal styles are an essential element to Cephalectomy’s intense mayhem. On top of this, one of the greatest things about this release is the multimedia portion, which includes a bio of the band, lyrics for Sign of Chaos (because they’re not printed in the booklet), a pretty long video of studio footage, plus lyrics and mp3’s for Cephalectomy’s demo Dark Waters Rise. So overall this is a very impressive album.

Dark Waters Rise (1998)

Insomnia `zine

I finally received this demo/CD from this chaotic brutal death/grind from Canada. This is their second demo and I'm certainly impressed by this now two piece band. Not only is Cephalectomy chaotic in the guitar riffs and fast beats, but also in the vocals which varies from double to even triple vocals, maybe more! This band just amazes me coming from two young guys not even in their 20's! Musically, Kataklysm and Dying Fetus comes into mind, but more chaotic and groovy with little melody in it. Songs that really impressed me were Shroud of Mysticism and Over Mountains of Ancient Power. Omens of Elder Creation is definitely the highlight track of this demo/CD. With Omens' insane vocal patterns, catchy riffs and weird time changes, one can see that Cephalectomy is worth looking up for in the near future. If you're disappointed with the new Kataklysm album (in which I'm sure most of you Kataklysm fans are), make sure you contact these guys and pick up this demo right away!

Chronicles of Chaos

While the music comes across brutal for all to hear, the production of this band's material (now on CD format) still lacks something. Much like the weak production on their three-song demo _Gateway to the Gods, _Dark Waters Rise_ loses a bit of appeal with the weak production, though the music and its wickedly violent pace soon dissolves that dilemma. From the get-go, the music of Cephalectomy flows with intensity and anger, lashing out at us with a wicked sneer, crushing us beneath the weight of the band's multi-styled playing. Influenced heavily by bands like Brutal Truth and Internal Bleeding, Cephalectomy rarely slows the pace down, shoving heavy riffs and growls into our face as much as they can. It's intense and quite good. Snag yourselves a copy by contacting the band and support the Canadian metal scene.

Gateway To The Gods (1997)

Chronicles of Chaos

I'm presently surprised by the material here from the young Nova Scotia three-piece death metal/grind act Cephalectomy. While the production on this demo (their first one, let's give them a break, eh?) is not really that good, the three songs on the demo really do sound solid. Well-written material that flows with intensity and anger. Lashing out with a multi straight forward and brutal. The vocals are vicious throughout and guitarist Corey Andrews shreds some heavy riffs. Too bad the demo only has three songs as they really do show a lot of talent and are keeping me interested of what is to come. I'm happy Cephalectomy submitted a demo to us here at CoC, 'cause it keeps me believing that metal does exist and is thriving in Canada.