Review of Nucleus - "Sentient"

ONE GIANT LEAP

By: Geoff Teach

Inspired by the deepest, darkest depths of the frozen reaches of space comes the latest album of Chicago death metal excellence. Officially being unveiled on April 15th, 2016, through Unspeakable Axe Records, Sentient is the first full-length studio release from Nucleus. This collection of nine interstellar offerings is quite the “how-do-you-do” debut from the Windy City quartet, who clearly have no qualms about writing calamitous and pulverizing metal expressions by the shuttle-load.

Sometimes gloomy – and always heavy as fuck – Nucleus’s Sentient is an enthralling and bewitching assemblage of summarily worthwhile “sci-fi death metal” compositions. Closest in production and ancestry to old Bolt Thrower, Isis, and Atheist, Nucleus is not shy about slathering on the layers of space-sludge to Sentient, as many songs transmute from frenetic blast-beats to trampling doom and back again, much to the delight of your humble metal journalist. Seriously, like the airless expanses of the cosmos, this album crushes all.

Sentient starts off with a supernova-sized blast with one of my favorite cuts, “Dosadi” (which I believe is a reference to Frank Herbert’s novel, The Dosadi Experiment. Herbert is most famously known for authoring the sci-fi classic, Dune). “Dosadi” is keen and calculated death metal destruction that slides perfectly into another otherworldly track, “Cantos”, which has an old-fashioned Death feel to its four-and-a-half minutes of controlled chaos. Additional highlights from Sentient include the first single, “Cube”, “Ancient”, and “Extirpate”, which fluctuates and flows like some demonic Aurora Borealis. All in all, Sentient by Nucleus is sick. Just sick. Be sure to place a pre-order for your own copy today.