Russian Death/Thrash Metal combo Cist has finally put out an official release out; a 2-track EP titled Chemical Tomb on Greece's Alone Records (limited to 350 copies). In my earlier review for Cist's 1-song promo track called "Synthetic Life", I made a harsh but truthful comparison to Chuck's Death. Cist displayed a huge Death influence and the song pretty much blew me away.

Now there are two other songs from Cist available; the title track of the EP and "Imitator." Both have a strong Death vibe but this time they have also fused in a bit more Thrash. Holland's Pestilence (the Mameli era and especially the always so wonderful Testimony of the Ancients album) should be mentioned as a clear influence as well. All the riffing is great on both songs and so are the drums, the vocals and the guys' obvious skills at composing butt-kicking Death/Pestilence-influenced material. They fucking deliver and with these three songs Cist has become my favorite Russian Death/Thrash Metal band of recent times. They truly know how to rule, musically. Period.