International trio Cosmic Cold War transport listeners into the darkest corners of their minds and the most remote reaches of the cosmos with their immersive blend of alternative, groove and progressive metal. They fuse soaring melodies and crushing riffs in an intriguing sound inspired by film and literary horror that they describe as “aggressive, cinematic and cerebral.”
Scotsman Kai Hastur (vocals and guitars), Burcu Ozedereli (guitars) from Turkey and Alex Alvarado (drums) from Venezuela had never met before their first audition in a tiny rehearsal room in south London. Kai started the band from his home studio during the lockdowns in 2020 and it was pure chance that Burcu and Alex discovered his adverts for musicians.
And Kai tells us: “We’ve all had great musical times in what we like to refer to as our ‘past lives,’ but there’s something really exciting about three complete strangers coming together, with all their knowledge and experience, and making something new. It’s what makes being in this band so much fun because we’re getting to know each other at the same time that our audience is learning about us as a band – it feels really fresh and inspiring.”
Our latest taste of this is their single Shimmer, which explores metamorphosis and the dangers of progress and was initially inspired by the Jeff VanderMeer novel Annihilation and Alex Garland’s movie adaption of the book. It also features guest vocals from Lynsey Ward of Exploring Birdsong, which bring an extra intrigue to the track.
Shimmer opens up with, funnily enough, shimmering instrumentals in a slow building intro. A darting riff and air raid siren kick in to shock the track into life, then a cool laid-back lick supports Kai’s engaging vocals. Powerful vocals and a return of the lively riff feed into a huge chorus, then the stabbing guitars and more air raid sirens feed into a delicious verse led by Kai’s powerful yet delicate vocals, which feeds into another chorus.
That ends on a haunting piano cameo before Lynsey’s vocals take over with repeated lines “This initiation preceding integration, The path is immolation, the ashes seek immersion.” It builds in intensity, ending on a huge sustained long note as a searing guitar solo takes over and feeds into a final blast of the chorus. It’s a pretty amazing conclusion to the track.
On the track, Kai told us: “We’ve been delighted with the reception to Shimmer so far, we’ve been very lucky to receive extensive global radio play with the single and we can’t wait to release the video for the track very soon… We were absolutely thrilled to collaborate with Lynsey on this track, so for those who haven’t heard it yet (or haven’t heard Lynsey’s incredible voice) you’re in for a treat.
“The track plays to our strengths as an aggressive prog-metal band with lots of thrash and groove influences, but we pushed ourselves even further with this single in terms of instrumentation and structure. Expect lots of riffs, fast shredding from Burcu and Alex’s trademark powerhouse drums, all elevated by Lynsey’s ethereal vocals – she added that touch of magic that we know people will love.” Check it out for yourself here:
Shimmer follows on from four songs released last year, including the excellent Absolute Zero, which was their debut music video featuring Game of Thrones actress Grace Hendry. It opens with a lively riff over drums and guitar chords, then a chunky riff drops into a laid-back verse. Heavier guitars kick in to bridge verses together then return to feed into an engaging chorus that ends with big cries of “absolute zero.”
A big guitar solo jumps in alongside more intense drums and vocals, which feed into another chorus. And the track comes to an intense conclusion with screamed vocals “Zero will never stop, This fear will never stop, This pain will never stop, No I will never stop.” Check it out in the video here:
We also love the intense guitars in the intro to Crawling Chaos, which is one of three tracks on their initial release Inconsequential Oblivion. The track epitomises the intense Cosmic Cold War sound, with brooding guitars, chunky riffs and an underlying sense of chaos and dread. Check it out in the lyric video here:
Cosmic Cold War fuse a wide range of musical influences both heavy and melodic. This includes bands like Metallica, Tool, Deftones, Muse, Slayer, Sepultura, Machine Head, TesseracT, Death, as well as classical music and film scores.
As Kai explains: “It’s a thrill to combine our range of styles and experiences into something that we hope our fans will feel is fresh and exciting.
“Our songs will always reflect the band name – trying to reach the deepest reaches of the cosmos and the darkest corners of your mind. We like to make listening to our music like watching a piece of cinema; this is helped by our lyrical influences from literary and cinematic horror. We’re for fans of H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, John Carpenter, and all things cosmic and inexplicable.”
The band just finished up their first UK tour supporting French band Hype Lights and we’re certain there’s plenty more to come from this thrilling trio. And as you can probably sense, there’s much more to Cosmic Cold War than simply the music. As Kai tells us: “Our visuals are a really key part of the band, so if anyone wants to check out more from us we encourage them to head over to our YouTube channel to get the full CCW experience!
“We’re determined to keep improving our sound and cinematic scope with every release and we want our fans to have high expectations of us – so if you like what we do, feel free to connect and give us a hard time until we do it even better. Most importantly, we also have very stylish coasters in our merch store on Bandcamp, for the more discerning ladies and gentlemen of the metal community.”
You can follow Cosmic Cold War on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube.
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