Landfill Breastmilk Beast

Odd that an underground black metal act would make a stopgap EP, that most blatant of market-driven artifacts, but Landfill Breastmilk Beast is undeniably one. Its three tracks total 44 minutes, though appearances are deceiving. "Stomach," a taste of Cobalt's next full-length, is state-of-the-art black metal. It eschews the typical blastbeats and bees-in-a-bucket guitars for big drums and big riffs. The result updates the punch of first-wave black metal with better chops and production. Next is a cover of "Extinction" by crust punk legends Nausea. It's surprisingly faithful to the original; the eerie intro clean tones perfectly fit the blackened setting. Closing out the EP is a half-hour ambient track, "Ritual Use of Fire." Pieces of the track appeared on Cobalt's previous full-length, Eater of Birds. Presented here as a whole, though, they don't add up to much. Guitars wax acoustic and textural, whooshes go this way and that, and various scary noises and found sounds crop up. It's not a bad listen, but it's inconsequential. A track from a forthcoming album, a cover, and a half-hour waste of tape — this is for completists only.