Band:	Cursed Cemetery
Album:	Magma Transmigration
Style:	Black metal, Drone metal
Release date:	October 18, 2024
A review by:	AndyMetalFreak

01. Magma Transmigration
02. Yajna
03. Tad Ekam
04. Udva

Can a spiritual journey through the Cursed Cemetery be any more unsettling?

Cursed Cemetery was established in Romania back in 1997 by the highly prolific musician Emilian Matlak, also known by his stage name Fulmineos. Curiously, however, it wasn't until over a decade later in 2008 that the band would release full-length debut album Dead Souls Madness. Despite the band's original style being rooted in black metal, they've ventured more recently into an unorthodox territory that delves into styles such as ambient, drone, doom, and blackened death, during which time they have undergone frequent line-up changes. Fast forward to 2024, and Cursed Cemetery offer up their fifth release to date in Magma Transmigration. The band is now a well-established trio coming into this latest album, with Fulmineos (guitars/keyboards) once again joined by bassist M II and vocalist/drummer Khruddwith, a line-up that has remained the same from previous output A Forgotten Epitaph (2022).

With prior experience as part of Eye Of Solitude, Clouds, and Negură Bunget, the trio behind Cursed Cemetery are certainly not short of talent, and their musical expertise clearly shows here on Magma Transmigration. Once again, the trio rises from within the shadowy depths of the underground scene, presenting a variety of styles and elements spanning funeral doom, drone, psychedelia, and disso-black, through 4 lengthy epic songs aimed to take listeners on a dark, mystical, and spiritual inner voyage. The title track "Magma Transmigration" starts this journey off in a crushing, slow-tempo, funeral doom fashion, with powerful instrumentation guided by agonizing gnarls and cries of desperation. The style of the opener is mostly funeral doom-based; however, elements of drone and blackened death occur throughout, and this only acts as a taster for what's to come throughout the rest of this 53-minute dark, mysterious, spiritual journey.

"Yajna" shies away from the funeral doom direction set by the opener and takes a much more diverse structural route, varying from repetitive drone and crushing doom, to dissonant blackened death, with atmospheric background features such as Himalayan chants and oriental synth effects, along with a surprising stylish rhythmic shift partway through that adds some unexpected groove. "Tad Ekam" takes the spiritual journey to even darker lengths, adding a touch of psychedelia. The structure of this song mainly consists of patient hypnotic drone and crushing funeral doom builds-ups that erupt into devastating blackened death, but you'll also find a few striking melodic moments scattered throughout the mostly unsettling dissonance.

However, it's the lengthy 15-minute closing track "Udva" that demands your full attention most; it's a slow intensifying spiritual journey that you simply can't switch off from at any moment. It might take nearly 5 minutes to really get going, but once it does, it unleashes some of the heaviest and most Earth-shattering instrumentation on the album, and the synths in the background also work to massive effect, as it creates an atmosphere that feels as though the Earth is crumbling before your eyes. However, slow sections appear momentarily, allowing breathing space before the instrumentation continues to crush all within its path.

With its often baffling song structures, and variety of uneasy listening styles, Magma Transmigration is certainly not an easy listen, and it's one that demands your full attention. Do the exceedingly long songs sound like a daunting prospect to you? Well, Cursed Cemetery have evidently intended it this way; each of the 4 songs is a unique spiritual journey that requires patience and time to fully digest. Fulmineos is one of the most prolific musicians in Romanian metal, but out of all his numerous ventures and side projects, Cursed Cemetery is perhaps his most challenging project to dive into, and Magma Transmigration could prove to be the most challenging release from this project yet.