Even before I started playing the debut full-length release from Californian progressive black/death metal band Cormorant, I had fallen in love with the artwork by Jeff Christensen. Apparently there are four separate panels, which were created as sixteen inch square oil paintings, quite an undertaking for a self-release. Formed in 2007, the group consists of bassist/vocalist Marcus Luscombe, guitarist Nick Cohon, guitarist/vocalist Matt Solis, and drummer Brennan Kunkel. In addition to performing numerous shows throughout the Bay Area with notable acts like At The Gates, Wolves In The Throne Room, Ne Obliviscaris, and Pallbearer, they have completed full US tours with Primordial, While Heaven Wept, YOB, Norska, and others. For this release the band were also joined by cellist Jackie Perez Gratz (Grayceon, Giant Squid, ex-Amber Asylum).
Cormorant are bringing together black, death, prog, and folk metal, while there are also pronounced psychedelic, dark ambient and funeral doom influences. This album is a respectable length at sixty-one minutes, but there are only four songs. Closer “Migration” is more than twenty-six minutes in length, which is epic by any standards, certainly for a band playing music like this. But, they never seem too long, as it allows all of the styles to mix together, and the listener finds themselves deep inside the music, not even realising that the real world has been passing them by. As well as releasing this as a double vinyl album and CD, the band have also made this available digitally, so if this sounds intriguing why not give them a listen. What have you to lose?
