(written by Islander)
We’ve been avidly following the evolving adventures of Cognizance for quite a while now. When Willowtip Records released the band’s Phantazein album in early 2024, our DGR wrote: “[W]hile Cognizance have remained a sleek and ultra-precise machine for over a decade since the release of their first full length – after having subsisted on a series of singles and EPs – they’ve also slowly hammered and forged their sound into something as fiercely creative and memorably groove-ridden as it is terrifyingly technically proficient.”
And so it’s no surprise that we’ve been greedily rubbing our hands over the prospect of getting the follow-up to Phantazein. Lo and behold, it will arrive on May 1st (again via Willowtip) in the shape of In Light, No Shape.
As DGR further observed in that previous review, Cognizance “always seem to be finding new twists on their particular style of Tech-Death – while still sounding like an absolute hurricane of riffs.” What twists might this new album bring us?
We’ve had a couple of signs so far, two songs from the new album that have already debuted, and today we present an official video for a third one — “The Zone“.
photo by Nadine Geuter
In Light, No Shape marks the first lineup shift for Cognizance in a decade, with founding guitarist Alex Baillie stepping forward as vocalist while retaining guitar duties, following the 2023 departure of founding vocalist Henry “Big Mac” Pryce, and so the band now operate as a quartet rather than a quintet. To quote Alex Baillie:
“This record is a defining milestone for us. Taking on vocals has pushed us to re-engineer how we experiment with the blend of elements in our sound, unlocking new creative pathways to compliment the core identity of the band. What you will hear are four dudes all adding their flavours to the melting pot to create a body of work that felt completely natural to us.”
And now it’s time to enter “The Zone” and find out what kind of flavors Cognizance added to this particular melting pot (a mind-melter, to be clear).
photo by Nadine Geuter
Cognizance have never been stingy with their riffs, and “The Zone” is packed with them. Those riffs again display the band’s impressive technical proficiency, as spider-fast fingers precisely create rapidly squirming and ecstatically darting adventures in one head-spinning sequence after another.
But unlike many technically impressive performances by other bands, these riffs create melodic and rhythmic hooks at the same time as they’re spinning like kaleidoscopes, which is to say, this is a very infectious song.
The song also does include twists, and contrasts. Among the twists, Cognizance bring in quick stops and starts (including vocal stops and starts); melodic arpeggios that sensuously slither and swirl rather than frantically quiver, skitter, and leap about; head-moving grooves; and a guitar solo that’s downright witchy.
In the department of contrasts, drummer David Diepold deploys steady snare-beats and kick-drum punches while the fretwork maestros are flying around like hive-mind swallows, but he flies into high-speed blasting when the fretwork becomes more melodically fluid.
Meanwhile, Alex Baillie’s vocals add savagery to the mix as he growls, barks, and bays like a big mastiff with rabies under a full moon.
It’s a hell of a great mix of flavors for sure, and it all works together in a way that will greatly please the palates of both tech-death and prog-metal fans. The song comes with an excellent video too, one that gives us lots of changing views of these four wizards at work against a solid black backdrop.
COGNIZANCE Lineup:
Alex Baillie – Guitar/Vocals
Apostolis Karydis – Guitar
Chris Binns – Bass
David Diepold – Drums
In Light, No Shape was produced by Alex Baillie and Apostolis Karydis, mixed and mastered by Ronnie Björnström (Aeon, Blood Red Throne), and completed with eye-catching cover art by Jef Whitehead (Nails, Leviathan). The album is available for pre-order from Willowtip now, via the links below.
And below the links we’ll also leave you streams of those two previously released songs from the album, “Witness Marks” and “A Game of Proliferation“. Check them out so you can keep your spinning heads spinning.
PRE-ORDER:
https://bit.ly/inlightnoshape-willowtip
https://cognizance.bandcamp.com/album/in-light-no-shape
COGNIZANCE:
https://www.instagram.com/cognizanceband
https://www.facebook.com/cognizanceband