Florida act Centuries are ripping up the East Coast. Their debut LP, Taedium Vitae, a darkened hardcore shellshock of an album, fits right at home on Southern Lord. The sound delivered from this LP is caustic, volatile, and overtly heavy; Centuries tears through nine tracks in nineteen minutes (!). Taedium Vitae proves to be an absolute wrecking ball – a downright raw album that Centuries pushes the limits of their creative efforts on.
Opening with a jarring one minute, twenty second wave of fuzz and jangling guitar chords, Centuries drops the listener right in with “Caeruleus.” The guitars are punchy – crunchy, if you will; thick walls of sound crash through the gates. The vocal style is abrasive – loud screams pave the way for the album, a tour de force emotional ride that hinges on the very fabric of the bands capability. “Caeruleus” is a track that builds upon itself. As the next track, “Gelu,” takes shape, the drums rage, pounding away a menacing beat as the guitars crank out deep, powerful chords. A slower track than the former, Centuries brings an emotional wave to “Gelu”; all this blackened anger comes to the forefront – the vocals expel such venom.
“Pessum Ire” contains interesting riffing. The track grooves along, centered around this riff. There is a lot of power being created here; it is more of emotive hardcore than it is straight up, tooth-and-nail punishing music. The track still attacks, has teeth, but for different reasons. There’s emotion being poured out – the visceral vocals compliment the entirety of the song so well. “Pessum Ire” is raw, unfiltered, adrenaline pumping hardcore with a real sense of emotion; the riffing feels uplifting and not dark and sludge infested. “Tabeo” is an instrumental track, one steeped in the blackness of the aforementioned genres. Here, Centuries belts out a twisted sound, rooted in fuzz and noise. The track is disconnected, covered over in a wall of sound that meshes well with the previous track. Back to back, Centuries has differing styles, and both succeed in each aspect. They are able to throw curveballs and switch up their sound from track to track, letting the vastness of their imagination take precedence over all.
“Irrita” is the last track on the album. A scream, like a victims, opens the track up, ushering in such an unrelenting, destructively heavy sound. The track is speedy; a two minute brutalizer that doesn’t let its icy deathgrip go. Centuries blasts through the track at a blistering speed, only to finish in a hail of noise that ends up suffocating the listener, cutting off all oxygen and burying them deep underground.
Taedium Vitae lives up to its Latin name, meaning “weariness” or “loathing of life”. There’s a lot of weariness to this album in the best possible sense, insofar as it is a long trek up a mountain that the listener was never prepared to climb up. It is a heavy album that does not relent; it is an abrasive, sandpaper-against-skin LP. These dark overtones wash over the album, and with this blackened rage Centuries have crafted a sound that pulsates – resonates through walls of noise. Disjointed tracks lead into others, creating a whole album instead of one single. As a debut LP, Centuries blasts away and aims high. What ever their goals may be, they have certainly exceeded them, and then some. Taedium Vitae is a completely raw album, and one made in the most passionate medium known as honesty.
The album will be available from Southern Lord August 6th.
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