Album Review: Cicada - Self Titled

by GDK

What are three things I hear and know this is going to be an awesome album? Heavy grooves, anything with the word “bamboozled” and, possibly the most important of them all - someone screaming “FLAVA FLAV!” (Every band needs a hype man) at the top of their lungs. While Cicada doesn’t have a short man with a Viking helmet or an oversized clock, the album does have many songs that blast out some insane riffs and impressive grooves.

Beginning with ‘Cleansing the Wicked’ Cicada crushes its listeners right away with some slow doomy tremolo picking and some smashing grooves. After the whiplash and windmill fest that took place during ‘Cleansing the Wicked’ and ‘In Same’ I was ready to pass out, then ‘Benefactor of Chaos’ starts up and the groove gives off some magnetic and animalistic energy. The type of energy you only find when in a drum circle dancing around for hours until you pass out, very tribal and ritualistic.

As soon as I finished ‘Guild of Guilt’ I had to go to YouTube and search for a live video. I’ve seen a lot of bands that claim to be “brutal” over the last few years and I can safely say that none of them come close to beating the combination of Chester “Hardand” Long – bass/vocals, Anson May – guitar/vocals, Joe Pottie – drums, and Nathan Collupy; the Big Black Djembe player . Courtesy of Noisography’s very own Tiffany Naugler I stared at a screen for 4:58 seconds in pure amazement, Cicada decimates the crowd with this track.

I finally get to ‘Steel Crusher’ and find myself thinking about creepy carnivals and clowns resembling Pennywise. When the band crashes in the carnival becomes a slaughterhouse. This track is one long groove, filled with tempo switches and some impressive double bass. Finally ‘Encapsulated’ comes around and screams Sepultura (when they were good, none of this Karios crap). I had to re-listen to the outro of this album at least 12 times before I could even comprehend how heavy it is.

This album is one of the best modern takes on classic death metal I’ve ever heard. From the blast beats to the crushing growls to the beefy bass-filled breakdowns this album has it all. If you fancy yourself some serious shit kicking metal Cicada’s self-titled is the album to pick up!

Cicada – Cicada drops a groove so heavy it earns 5 strums out of 5!