Track By Tracks: Cultist - Spiritual Atrophy (2026)

1. Divination Whispers/Coursing Between Worlds:

The simple, eerie guitar chords amplified by the mysterious and ominous synth of Divination Whispers is a great reproduction of the sound going through my head the first time we set up the Ouija Board at my friend’s house when we were 13.

That’s probably the most common introduction to an occult practice that you might find, which is why it opens this album about our experiences with occultism. Then Coursing Between Worlds kicks off, and my heart races like when we saw the planchette start to move. It picks up into a frenzy of hardcore-influenced compositions, and finishes with the death metal whirlwind of the chorus before starting again at the hardcore riff. The tri-vocal attack shows a new level of depth to the viciousness, like getting your ass whooped by someone who’s studied how to whoop ass the right way.

2. Neophyte:

The way that the aggressive intro cedes the floor to the grooving main riff, which then transforms into the intense blast pattern, shows the simpler side of this album. Yet it’s peppered with small repeating sections to mirror the lyrics of trying, failing, and starting again to perform some low-stakes rituals before it all comes to a head with the climax of the off-kilter blast section.

3. Reality Shaper:

The jagged contrast between the cruising simplicity and the short brutality of the two verse riffs serves as the nexus point for the swirling mayhem of the rest of the song. From the groovy opening riff to the Morbid Angel-inspired sudden stop blast, to the punk bridge, this song is chaotic and craggy. The lyrics, which are about learning the rules (and which ones you can bend) of Chaos Magick, are very befitting of such a strangely structured song.

4. Phenomena:

The opening drum pattern and its matching bass riff might be the weirdest part on the album, before settling into the simplicity of the tried and true mid-paced headbanger. The slow sections are as ominous as the lyrical subject matter, of seeing portents and warnings, of good and ill, in all places. The track coalesces into its zenith of madness and fury in equal measure.

This track was for laying down those stylistic phrases, but with a heavy foothold. The lyrics match this form by expressing subtleties that are unworldly and beautiful, and yet may sometimes chaotically influence earthly being.

5. Perversion of Survival/Ascension:

Perversion of Survival’s industrial oddities, an evolution of the sounds of a dial-up modem, represents the future of humanity presented in Ascension, where transhumanism and occultism meet.

Helena Blavatsky wrote about what she saw as our species’ spiritual evolution, where we would no longer need bodies, becoming a race of ethereality. Sounds an awful lot like the people who want to freeze their brains until the capabilities of creating a digital afterlife are achieved, eh?

Ascension itself is my favourite song on the album; it starts off with a display of savagery and intensity not seen in Cultist, and doesn’t let up until the breakdown comes in. Even the buildup towards the guitar solo is merciless as it tightens its grip on the listener. Makes you feel like a higher form does actually await us, right?

6. False Prophet:

Fast, simple, and trashy is the name of the game for this welterweight bruiser of a song. The lyrics, decrying some deeply influential figures upon whose influence modern occultism largely stands, are sparse but impactful. Dynamic and fluid, False Prophet quickly glides from one section to another until it lands with the simplicity and violence of its ending and takes a bow.

7. Spiritual Atrophy:

This monumental finale track is heavily inspired by “Storm of Revelations” by The Chasm, with its initial buildup releasing into the continuing momentum. The false ending culminates in the climactic instrumental section and finishes with a ferocious blast section into the simple battering of the chorus. It ends the album with a real BANG.