Album/EP

Civerous - Mazy Envy (Album Review)

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Heavy Metal Wordsmith

Mar 20, 2024

7 min read

Civerous - Maze EnvyReleased: March 22nd, 2024

LineUp:

Lord Foul // VocalsAlonso Santana // GuitarsDaniel Salinas // GuitarsNaraka // BassAidan Neuner// Drums

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While it can certainly be said that one of the hallmarks of the death metal genre is the high bpm, it’s spin-off sub-genre death-doom eschews pace for slower passages and mournful aesthetics. Picture a disgusting doom metal riff above some marching double kicks, throw in low grunting vocals, a bunch of reverb, and a pinch of progressiveness, you’ve got the genre in a nutshell. Thanks to modern acts like Moriferium, Spectral Voice, and Worm, this niche end of extreme metal has never been so fertile - and with their sophomore full-length Maze Envy ready to drop, Los Angeles’ Civerous are another major highpoint for the sound in 2024.

Released via underground titans 20 Buck Spin - and housed in incredible artwork - Maze Envy is the LA five-piece’s second album, after their 2021 debut Decrepit Flesh Relic. Taking the template from their first record and expanding upon it, Maze Envy is soaked in atmosphere - with just enough moments of shimmering, post-rock style beauty amongst the cliffs of heaviness. Drawing the listener in with the haunting, horror movie-esque strings of 'The Azure Eye', opener proper 'Shrouded In Crystals' lurches to life with a trudging motif that slows down when Lord Foul’s tortured vocals and droning lead lines enter the fray. The band keeps things fresh throughout the track, including a middle section that is bound to be a hit for any moshpit environment.

The interlude 'Endless Symmetry' leads directly into the clean guitar intro of 'Labyrinth Charm'. It, and the following 'Levitation Tomb', are the two most ‘concise’ tunes on the LP sitting at the five-minute mark. 'Labyrinth Charm' is the fastest cut on Maze Envy with stop-start blast beats, while the feel and mood change move into almost black metal territory with a slight drop in speed and more melodically mournful guitar lines. We head back into familiar death metal waters though with a well-written reprise and an epic ending. Meanwhile, 'Levitation Tomb' has the pace pulled back a little, with chiming guitar lines floating amongst some of the heaviest, dirtiest doom parts on the record - a breakdown in the bridge precedes the violent ending, with the track climaxing with wild drums and more creeping parts. Maze Envy suitably finishes with it’s two weightiest efforts, with the closing songs clocking in at nearly 20 minutes together. The title tune keeps the pace slow with open string riffing before a big clean break in the middle adds a layer of delicateness rarely heard in the genre, while the mournful violin and piano introduced during the monumental finale 'Geryon (The Plummet)' fit snugly next to flattening guitars and thunderous vocals.

For the uninitiated, Maze Envy will serve as a great intro to the death-doom genre, with Civerous showing off a great depth of songwriting thanks to some truly expansive compositions, progressive touches, and instrumental explorations. It’s a well-structured album - a lulled-in intro, a massive opener-proper, another peaceful reprieve before two more concise cuts and then two back-to-back nine-minute epics. There are only so many superlatives you can use to explain crushing music; with lots of character and the occasional moments of beauty amongst the waves of dooming heaviness, yet it is still rooted in classic death metal with no repeating parts and turn-on-a-dime feel changes. In a year where we’ve already had some great music coming out of the genre, Civerous’ Maze Envy is a proper album for those who like their death metal slow, dynamic, grimy, and doom-infested.