Band:	Cult Of Fire
Album:	The One, Who Is Made Of Smoke
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	March 26, 2025
A review by:	RaduP

01. Loss
02. Mourning
03. Anger
04. Dhoom
05. Blessing
06. Joy
07. There Is More To Lose

Cult Of Fire have never been a "trve" black metal band, partly because of their thematic approach also impacting their melodic sense, but they've never felt this melodic before.

First off, मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान (Sanskrit for "Ascetic Meditation Of Death") is one of the landmark releases in black metal for the 2010s, one that I wish had an even bigger splash on the scene that the waves it made in underground circles. But the South Asian themes that the band drenched themselves in were tackled thoroughly, from lyrics, to the deities in the cover art, to the elaborate stage presentation and costumes that the band use on stage. I had the pleasure of seeing the band last year, already in awe of their music thus far, and I was taken aback by how immersive their stage presentation was. And that immersion also translates into the music, with the band introducing oriental elements into their music.

Here's the thing though. Out of the trio that made Triumvirát, मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान, Moksha, and Nirvana, only one member is still in the band, guitarist/bassist Vladimír Pavelka, meaning that since the latest album, the band went through a complete lineup overhaul. Pavelka was likely the most instrumental member in creating the Cult Of Fire sound in the first place, but it still feels a bit odd to think of The One, Who Is Made Of Smoke in terms of continuity with the aforementioned albums. What checks out either way is that continuity is maintained in sound in that the more melodic and pristine evolution in sound that happened in between मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान and the two sibling Moksha and Nirvana albums is continued here.

There are seven tracks on the album, and each have a quite distinct personality, which goes hand in hand with how most of the tracks have titles with strong and succinct references to emotions. As a result, there are tracks that do feel more in line with what one might expect from an album tagged as "black metal" (the title track and "Anger"), ones that still hold a bit of a sinister vibe, but a lot of the other ones keep the harsher vocals and the blast beats as stylings from that genre and infuse it with a stark sense of melody and a dash of that orientalist influence (I don't know enough about Indian music to make any judgement about the authenticity of its influence), but the end result for songs like "Mourning" and "Joy" is that they end up sounding closer to hyper melodic folk metal and melodeath. Even if all of these are elements that they've played with before, and more so with each record, The One, Who Is Made Of Smoke is the first of their records where I've felt that my experience in tagging the band as "black metal" was impeding my enjoyment of how well executed the guitar melodies are, in a way that shifts structures often enough to feel dynamic, and catchy enough that I had a lot of moments feel very familiar on my second listen.

The One, Who Is Made Of Smoke is an album of variety, from the structures within the songs, to the emotions and musical leanings that each song tackles. Some moments feel shockingly un-sinister in a way that feels like the pulling of a veil. How one reacts to that pulling of the veil defines whether this album is a disappointment or a revelation.