Release Date June 19th, 2026
Format CD/Digital
Genre Death/Thrash Metal
Origin International
Cyclopic began in 2025 as an international death/thrash metal project linking Kazakhstan, Russia and Germany. The line-up is small, experienced and practical: Alexey Rumyantsev handles vocals, music and lyrics, with past work in Dig Me No Grave; Sergey Stepanenko supplies guitars and bass, with credits across projects such as Torn Apart, Critical Extravasation, Excruciation By Silence and Skyglow; Jörg Uken appears on session drums, with a long history behind the kit and at Soundlodge Studio, plus current work with Temple Of Dread. On paper, this is not a young local band trying to figure out where to stand. It is a cross-border unit built around old death/thrash habits, speed, riffs, blunt vocals and no decorative padding. The debut album, "Flesh Of Chaos", comes with ten songs and a compact running time of 31 minutes, which is a good call for this kind of material. It gets in, throws punches, and leaves before the riff language starts turning stale.
"Flesh Of Chaos" was made remotely, with drums tracked at Soundlodge Studio in Rhauderfehn, vocals at Portal Records in Vologda, and guitars plus bass at Black Catafalque Records in Almaty. The mix and mastering by Jörg Uken give the album a firm shape: the drums have snap, the guitars scrape with enough dirt, the bass is present enough to thicken the attack, and the vocals sit up front like a blunt instrument. The lyrics draw from Michael Moorcock’s fantasy writing, mainly the Swords Trilogy and the wider Eternal Champion cycle, which gives the album blood, sorcery and doomed-war imagery without turning it into soft cosplay. The cover art by Mark Cooper and design work by Amy Mor frame that world with the right kind of old metal scent.
As a listen, this is a good debut with a few limits. Cyclopic go for old-school death/thrash in a very literal way, and that brings instant impact, fast pacing and riffs that do not waste time. The best parts are the short, violent charges where the band locks into a grinding riff and lets the vocal phrasing spit over it. The album has a raw, physical pulse, and the remote recording process does not make it sound scattered. The performances are tight enough, the guitar soloing adds some fire, and the fantasy concept gives the songs a bloody visual frame.
The downside is that the album does not always cut deeper than its chosen style. Some riffs do their job, and then vanish without much aftertaste. The vocal approach is fitting for the material, though its range stays narrow, and the songs rely more on impact. That is not a fatal problem at this length, since the album stays compact and violent, with no patience for filler. "Flesh Of Chaos" of course is not a masterpiece but a sharp, old-school death/thrash debut with enough anger, speed and riff craft to deserve attention from you who still want this sound played rough and without perfume.
|7.0
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