A one-man band hailing from Germany, Cult of Extinction plays the sort of blackened grind hybrid generally known as "war metal" and popularised (in the underground, at least) by acts like Canada's Revenge. It's a murky, blasting form of extreme metal that probably sounds all the same to outsiders but to devotees scratches a particular itch that regular black or death metal can't quite manage. Cult of Extinction is closer to black metal in terms of atmosphere, that harrowing swirl on the artwork something like the hypnotic effect that the music itself has on tracks like the militaristic pulse of Inverted Henosis, which sounds like construction noise in its centre before returning to clattering intensity. Where some acts would veer dangerously close to monotony there are standout moments thanks to mainman Void's ability to keep things about as varied as they can be, such as the monkish chanting and deranged screaming that opens Possessed by a Servant of Iblis, the chanting seeming to remain throughout the track as an ambient kind of echo.

He brings a range of influences in; Emanated from the Cosmic Darkness shifts partway through to an eerie industrial piece, like recent Blut Aus Nord, and that style is returned to in a more horrifying, almost Axis of Perdition-esque soundscape on the following interlude The Descent. The pieces with little touches like this are far more interesting than the more straightforward war blasts; anyone having watched the fantastic Chernobyl series on HBO recently will be chilled by intro Sacred Glorification of Pandemic with a near-constant Geiger counter-esque crackle in the background as (one assumes sampled) missiles launch and explode in the fore, for instance, and it's an effective opening to the relentless Anti-Monad Black Hole Bomb. Overall it's a tough recommendation unless you're seriously into the style, but Ritual in the Absolute Absence of Light is a fine example of the genre to the point where its abrupt end after the savage title track is almost disappointing.