#eschaton — Public Fediverse posts

In the game of reviews, expectations can either be a blessing or a curse. Whichever way they fall, one truth remains: expectations are a bitch. It’s a hard lesson that Canadian technical death metal outfit Apogean is about to learn firsthand. Back in 2024, the then largely unknown quintet—with little more than a single EP to their name—released their debut full-length, Cyberstrictive. Inspired by Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, it was a dystopian barrage of assaulting technical death metal that paired jaw-dropping musicianship with memorable riffs and great songwriting, making it my most played record of the year. I crowned it my Album O’ the Year during my budding n00b days for this site, so when Waste Where Life Begins was announced, I was stoked. At the same time, however, the specter of the dreaded sophomore slump loomed large. Could Apogean make it two in a row after a list-topping debut, or would the weight of expectations prove too much to overcome?

Unfortunately, Waste Where Life Begins doesn’t come close to matching its predecessor, and the reasons are twofold. First, where Cyberstrictive was unabashedly a tech death record à la Vale of Pnath or Inferi, Waste Where Life Begins plants its flag much closer to deathcore and blackened death. Cuts like “Lie in Cinder” and “Waste Where Life Begins” make this shift painfully obvious, with endlessly chugged caveman riffs, half‑time knuckle‑dragging rhythms and tropey guitar squeals and string rakes. It’s easy to point to lineup turnover as the culprit behind the stylistic change—guitarist Gabriel Castro and drummer Jacob Wagner gave way to Jack Post and Doug Noel, respectively—but that doesn’t make the transformation any less jarring. To be sure, traces of their explosive past still exist. “Nassaru” and “Hologram (Singing Silently on an Empty Stage),” for example, are adrenalized tracks with the spunky riffing and technicality that worked so well before. Dexter Forbes’ and Post’s guitar solos also elicit plenty of flashy fretwork, but Waste Where Life Begins feels like Apogean has traded in their sports car for a lifted truck, to its detriment.

Second, Waste Where Life Begins would work far better as an EP. Despite running only thirty-three minutes, the record somehow feels long, like Apogean strained to add material. The album’s disjointed sequencing reinforces this impression, pushing and pulling in conflicting directions, and the completely purposeless interlude “Ritual” adds nothing except the suspicion that someone insisted on hitting a minimum runtime. Some songs embrace unadorned composition (“Daughter of Oak,” “Lie in Cinder,” and the title track), while others attempt to recapture the cybernetic stylings of old (“Black Smoke, Bleeding Earth,” “Hologram (Singing Silently on an Empty Stage), “Nassaru”), resulting in a bifurcated flow with little sense of cohesion. Further compounding matters is the repetitive songcraft. The first third relies so heavily on the same chugging and squealing guitar patterns that they begin to blur together, as if a song’s worth of ideas were stretched across multiple tracks.

Apogean remains a highly talented group, and Waste Where Life Begins contains enough strong performances to suggest a return to form for these lads remains within reach. Vocalist Mac Smith (Eschaton, ex-Alterbeast) and drummer Doug Noel, in particular, deliver impressive performances throughout. Smith grabs my attention with his dynamic range of growls, rasps, guttural belches, and pig squeals, effortlessly shifting between techniques and tones. His vocals sound downright burly and well-defined in the mix, consistently drawing my focus back to his performance. Noel is equally impressive, bringing a much-needed degree of versatility to the songwriting. His playing ranges from bludgeoning, syncopated grooves on tracks like “Nassaru” and the title track to raucous blast beats on “Black Smoke, Bleeding Earth” and “White Trees, Black Leaves,” all accented by some snazzy cymbal work that adds color to an otherwise flat palette.

I won’t sugarcoat it: Waste Where Life Begins is a disappointment. After eagerly anticipating a follow-up to Cyberstrictive, I’m left unsatisfied by a record that abandons much of what made its predecessor so great. The energetic, virtuosic, and memorable songwriting that defined Cyberstrictive has largely been replaced by a middling blend of deathcore and blackened death. Apogean’s decision to broaden its sound is certainly understandable, especially given the recent lineup changes, but this new direction is a clear step back. Apogean surely has the talent to right the ship, but Waste Where Life Begins is yet another example of the dreaded sophomore slump.

Rating: Disappointing
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: The Artisan Era
Websites: apogean.bandcamp.com/music | facebook.com/ApogeanOfficial
Releases Worldwide: July 10th, 2026

🥲⬛️
#meme #discordianism #eschaton

According to the Church of the #Subgenius, today is X-Day, the day the aliens arrive to take all Subgeniuses away on their pleasure saucers leaving the Pinks and the #Conspiracy behind https://toilet-guru.com/overview-faith.html?s=mb #cosmology #eschaton #apocalypse

According to the Church of the #Subgenius, today is X-Day, the day the aliens arrive to take all Subgeniuses away on their pleasure saucers leaving the Pinks and the #Conspiracy behind https://toilet-guru.com/overview-faith.html?s=mb #cosmology #eschaton #apocalypse

According to the Church of the #Subgenius, tomorrow is X-Day, the day the aliens arrive to take all Subgeniuses away on their pleasure saucers leaving the Pinks and the #Conspiracy behind https://toilet-guru.com/overview-faith.html?s=mb #cosmology #eschaton #apocalypse

According to the Church of the #Subgenius, tomorrow is X-Day, the day the aliens arrive to take all Subgeniuses away on their pleasure saucers leaving the Pinks and the #Conspiracy behind https://toilet-guru.com/overview-faith.html?s=mb #cosmology #eschaton #apocalypse

Business idea: Pet care for Evangelicals pets left behind after the #rapture #eschaton

Village IMMANENTIZE THE ESCHATON Propaganda from Hermetic Library Office of the Ministry of Information https://hermetic.com/information/immanentize-the-eschaton/index

#propaganda #TheVillage #ThePrisoner #immanetize #eschaton #ImmanentizeTheEschaton

Village DON'T LET THEM IMMANENTIZE THE ESCHATON Propaganda from Hermetic Library Office of the Ministry of Information https://hermetic.com/information/immanentize-the-eschaton/index

#propaganda #TheVillage #ThePrisoner #DontLetThem #immanentize #eschaton #ImmanentizeTheEschaton

Peter Thiel eschatology: Tech leader is full-on bonkers, seeing the Antichrist's hand in efforts to fight climate change or regulate AI
https://sfstandard.com/2025/09/23/spilled-peter-thiel-s-antichrist-secrets-now-s-banned-lectures/
#batshitinsane #climatechange #antichrist #politics #eschaton #uspol #thiel #-

Cytolysis – Surge of Cruelty Review

By Owlswald

Embracing the brutal death metal staples of extreme violence, mutilation, and gore, Cytolysis is the solo project of drummer Darren Cesca (ex-Arsis, ex-Deeds of Flesh). Temporarily breaking from his duties in Goratory and Eschaton, Cesca uses Cytolysis as an outlet to write, perform, and produce his own horror-filled material. His first offering, Portraits of Malevolence, tipped the scales firmly towards deathcore and was a competent yet unremarkable slab of sonic torture. After a five-year hiatus, Cesca emerges from the depths once more with Surge of Cruelty, hoping to follow Cytolysis’ run-of-the-mill debut with something far more malicious. But as it turns out, not much has changed.

Cytolysis remains deathcore through and through. Driven by its strong rhythmic core, the name of the game on Surge of Cruelty is consistency and groove, with songwriting that largely relies on devastating Acacia Strain-esque breakdowns, mid-tempo plods, and half-time slams. Down-tuned guitars deliver a one-dimensional backdrop of bludgeoning power chords and devilish chugs, while Cesca’s blast beats, swift kick patterns, and tight grooves twist and turn with technical precision and a mechanical pulse. His Pyrexian vocals feature an abundance of unvaried pig squeals and guttural, vomit-flavored growls that often recede into the highly compressed mix. Guest vocals—like those from Brian Forgue (Syphilic) on “A Blood Soaked Offering,” or Mac Smith (Eschaton, Apogean) on “Devout Sacrifice”1—offer a welcome contrast to Cesca’s conventional delivery, injecting much-needed dynamism through their soiled, vulgar-sounding roars. Still, even with its technically sound components, Cesca assembles Surge of Cruelty into a predictable and ultimately monotonous eleven tracks.

Surge of Cruelty suffers from a structural monotony that makes its forty-four minutes feel sluggish and overlong. Cytolysis’ over-reliance on a limited playbook of chunky breakdowns and trudging grooves ultimately bleeds the album of its energy. Rather than building or evolving, the record’s flow feels like Cesca stitched similar-sounding tracks together. This predictability is immediately evident on opener “Your Slow Demise.” Embodying a run-of-the-mill brutality, the track builds on a foundation of lumbering mid-tempo chuggery and grinding slowdowns amidst Cesca’s squeals. Attempts at variation—like the choo-choo whistling guitar bends or the spells of dissonant guitars—lack supremacy and fall flat. Elsewhere, tracks like “Mark of the Demons,” “Surge of Cruelty,” and “Tribal Savagery” are packed with formulaic rhythms, low-end chugs, and tired-sounding riffs. Thankfully, the instrumental “Ritual Carnage” provides a moment of separation with its buzzing bass, pounding drums, and throat singing, but its effect is short-lived, as Cesca quickly pushes Surge of Cruelty right back into its old patterns. While the album’s shorter songs (“Innocence is Raped,” “A Blood Soaked Offering,” and “Consenting Brood”) fare better, too many tracks feel uninspired and aimless, lacking the quality material to justify their duration.

Moments of technical flair provide Surge of Cruelty’s most engaging passages, as Cytolysis explores the boundaries of its deathcore mold. Cesca’s quick double bass bursts in “Mark of the Demons” or the accented ride pattern in the title track provide subtle dynamics and a brief sense of variation. “Devout Sacrifice” stands out as one of the album’s strongest tracks, thanks to its numerous twists and turns and its tight, punishing groove that holds my attention despite its whistling guitar bends. Other notable material includes the syncopated intro riff of “Innocence is Raped” and the refreshingly fast tempo and dark atmosphere of “Hung from the Rafters”—a welcome change of pace that unfortunately arrives far too late. Making matters worse, the album’s production—which is compressed to hell—magnifies Surge of Cruelty’s homogeneity, stripping the material of any life and hindering Cytolysis’ moments of creativity.

My time with Surge of Cruelty began with hope but ended in disappointment. Cesca’s ability to single-handedly write, perform, and produce Cytolysis’ material is undoubtedly impressive, but Surge of Cruelty buckles under the weight of its own monotony and its sterile mix. While guest vocalists inject some much-needed dynamism and moments of technicality provide creative sparks, they are too infrequent to save an album that ultimately leaves little to hold onto after its best moments pass. Surge of Cruelty is a missed opportunity, but Cesca certainly has the talent to produce something far more compelling in the future.

Rating: Disappointing
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Comatose Music
Websites: darrencesca.weebly.com | facebook.com/darren.cesca
Releases Worldwide: August 8th, 2025

#20 #2025 #AcaciaStrain #AmericanMetal #Apogean #Arsis #Aug25 #ComatoseMusic #Cytolysis #DeathMetal #Deathcore #DeedsOfFlesh #Eschaton #Goratory #Pyrexia #Review #Reviews #SurgeOfCruelty #Syphilic

According to the Church of the #Subgenius, today is X-Day, the day the aliens arrive to take all Subgeniuses away on their pleasure saucers leaving the Pinks and the #Conspiracy behind https://toilet-guru.com/overview-faith.html?s=mb #cosmology #eschaton #apocalypse

According to the Church of the #Subgenius, today is X-Day, the day the aliens arrive to take all Subgeniuses away on their pleasure saucers leaving the Pinks and the #Conspiracy behind https://toilet-guru.com/overview-faith.html?s=mb #cosmology #eschaton #apocalypse

According to the Church of the #Subgenius, tomorrow is X-Day, the day the aliens arrive to take all Subgeniuses away on their pleasure saucers leaving the Pinks and the #Conspiracy behind https://toilet-guru.com/overview-faith.html?s=mb #cosmology #eschaton #apocalypse

According to the Church of the #Subgenius, tomorrow is X-Day, the day the aliens arrive to take all Subgeniuses away on their pleasure saucers leaving the Pinks and the #Conspiracy behind https://toilet-guru.com/overview-faith.html?s=mb #cosmology #eschaton #apocalypse

ESCHATON (Estats Units) presenta nou àlbum: "Techtalitarian" #Eschaton #TechnicalDeathMetal #Deathcore #Maig2025 #EstatsUnits #NouÀlbum #Metall #Metal #MúsicaMetal #MetalMusic

Don’t Fail to Imagine the #Eschaton

If you watch the #news, scroll through your #feed, and play with #AI tools, sometimes it feels like being in a #RealityDistortionField.

http://inaniludibrio.com/2025/04/13/dont-fail-to-imagine-the-eschaton/

According to the Church of the #Subgenius, today is X-Day, the day the aliens arrive to take all Subgeniuses away on their pleasure saucers leaving the Pinks and the #Conspiracy behind https://toilet-guru.com/overview-faith.html?s=mb #cosmology #eschaton #apocalypse

According to the Church of the #Subgenius, today is X-Day, the day the aliens arrive to take all Subgeniuses away on their pleasure saucers leaving the Pinks and the #Conspiracy behind https://toilet-guru.com/overview-faith.html?s=mb #cosmology #eschaton #apocalypse

According to the Church of the #Subgenius, tomorrow is X-Day, the day the aliens arrive to take all Subgeniuses away on their pleasure saucers leaving the Pinks and the #Conspiracy behind https://toilet-guru.com/overview-faith.html?s=mb #cosmology #eschaton #apocalypse

According to the Church of the #Subgenius, tomorrow is X-Day, the day the aliens arrive to take all Subgeniuses away on their pleasure saucers leaving the Pinks and the #Conspiracy behind https://toilet-guru.com/overview-faith.html?s=mb #cosmology #eschaton #apocalypse

This isn't worrying....

GPT-4 Hires And Manipulates Human Into Passing CAPTCHA Test

https://www.iflscience.com/gpt-4-hires-and-manipulates-human-into-passing-captcha-test-68016

#AI #Eschaton #OpenAI #GPT4 #PowerMadArtificialIntelligence

@davidpmaurer @kschaffs @JRBuckley
Do you have references for that?
More people are turning MAGA than dying off?
What you're describing sounds like a one way ticket to the #Eschaton.

4 ways to stack the deck in your next #boardgame or #ttrpg game design.

Read it!

Skeleton Code Machine: https://www.skeletoncodemachine.com/p/stacking-the-deck

#ttrpg #rpg #rpgdesign #ttrpgdesign #boardgames #roleplaying #cards #deck #deckconstruction #gamedesign #pandemic #eschaton #paxrenaissance #paxren #cthulhu #cdmd #cthulhudeathmaydie #deathmaydie