Cronos Compulsion – Lawgiver
Release Date: 11th July 2025
Label: Unorthodox Emanations / Avantgarde Music
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Doom, Death Metal.
FFO: Cannibal Corpse, Autopsy, Incantation.
Review By: Paul Cairney
What is good fun and lasts 24 minutes?
Perhaps not a question you often ask yourself, but the debut album, Lawgiver, by Denver death/doom outfit Cronos Compulsion is, of course, the correct answer.
The album is immediate. ‘Obligate Condition’ is a crushing depth charge of a track. The grunt of Wil Wilson is immense. A driving force that acts as additional instrumentation instead of vocals. Don’t let his non-metal name fool you, young Wil has seriously impressive vocal chops.
Other top tracks include ‘Gyre of Decaying Filth’, a track that belongs in the deepest parts of hell, allowing the full glory to be unloaded upon you. ‘Neolithic Meditations’ benefits from its extended run-time (only 4 minutes, it is hardly expansive), and the dissonant tone of the track allows it to excel.
Throughout Lawgiver, we are force-fed big riffs, with a great tone. This is a heavy album, but not to the extent where any instrument dominates. They blend, allowing the album to crush your soul from the inside out.
The albums downfall is, in part, its length. It is over way before it begins. With only 2 songs over the 3-minute mark, you feel that many of them could have been explored more. Another, very slight, disappointment is that, although described as genre fusing, Lawgiver just doesn’t raise its head above the competition. It is an album that you have heard before. It doesn’t add more to the genre, despite its best intentions
Cronos Compulsion have released their debut that hints at a very promising future. Lawgiver has more good points than bad, and Cronos Compulsion will only improve on this promising debut.
(3.5 / 5)
