Review by Raphaël on December 15, 2025.

Chaos Over Cosmos, the project of Polish musician extraordinaire Rafał Bowman, just released their fourth full length and it's an independent release once again. Now full disclosure, Rafał reached out to me for a review, and he also seems like a genuinely cool guy and a fellow leftist. There, now that my bias has been exposed, let us continue. This time he went and got the vocal talents of Taha Mohsin, after the tragic passing of his last vocalist, KC Lyon, rest in power and if anyone feels distress with dark thoughts, never hesitate to speak to someone, life can be tough, as a severely disabled man, trust me I know, but life can be wonderful too, often, it's the small things, like a new Chaos Over Cosmos album for example.

Anyhow, on to the album! As is tradition, the album begins with an instrumental, wasting no time to show you what the album will offer, when you press play, a few synth notes, a quick fade in and boom, as a supernova exploding, the solo hits instantly at max light speed (side note, I might use space analogies again, it's the vibe of the album). What I find interesting about this song is how complete it is, alternating between fast soloing, meaty melodeath riffs, with proggy, djent breakdowns thrown in the middle, it opens this album perfectly. Next is "When The Void Laughs" beginning with a one-minute solo, giving us a preview of his talent to go at inhuman speeds but never forgetting the melody. The new singer has a deep death metal growl, contrasting very well with the bright guitars. The rest of the song flows smoothly, never forgetting the melody and atmospheres with those spacey synths. Next is "Event Horizon Rebirth" and it draws you with a gorgeous melody that's emotional but still, in a pro "look at how fast I can go" kind of way. And that ladies, boys and nbs, is why I fucking love prog! Other highlights in the song would be the sometimes-syncopated rhythm, changing things up nicely and the oh so satisfying breakdowns that are also short bursts of solos. On "The Cosmo-Agony - Requiem", the last complete song (yes it's short for an album but the songs are fairy long, about 9 minutes, so the album is still 34 minutes long, which is pretty much perfect length), he shows his ability to go slower when it suits the melody better but fear not, it's still filed with dizzying speeds, the kind that makes you feel at the event horizon being sucked at the infinite gravity point.

The albums end with a short synth outro, giving you time to meditate on what you just lived through, 34 minutes of delicious prog and melodeath, with the most epic soloing you'll ever hear. The only negative I could think of is the drums that are probably programmed but honestly, it kind of pairs well with the sci-fi, spacy vibes of the record so it's hardly even a negative. What a fun album to close out the year, done by a truly talented musician, if you've never heard of Chaos Over Cosmos and you love prog, what are you doing?

Rating: 8.2 out of 10