Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 15 hours ago

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Released in late 2022, Zoetrope (subtitled Psychospiritual Sparagmos) is a monumental 24-minute single-track EP that serves as a bridge between Qrixkuor's acclaimed debut, 'Poison Palinopsia', and their latest evolution, 'The Womb of the World'. It is a work of "astral abyss metal," where the ferocity of cavernous death metal is meticulously woven with avant-garde orchestral arrangements and haunting ambient soundscapes.

Recorded at Priory Recording Studios with Greg Chandler (of the funeral doom legends Esoteric), the album utilizes real instrumentation—violins, cellos, and horns—to create a nightmarish, cinematic, ritualistic cycle of death and rebirth, mirroring the Victorian mechanical device for which it is named.

Press Quotes:
Last Rites: "Qrixkuor weaves the symphonic elements deep into the fabric of their dense, lurching death metal... it is a single, stupefyingly kaleidoscopic track."

The Progressive Subway: "Sounding like the coronation of an undead king or perhaps the funeral rite of an eldritch god... Zoetrope is as melodically smart as cavernous death metal gets."

Mystification Zine: "Stoic in mind yet maniac in motion... one of the more provocative, elusive bursts of fire from the underworld."

Metal Trenches: "A hefty listen... showcasing that Qrixkuor’s ambition to push death and black metal into even more grandiose and nightmarish territory pays off."

Rate Your Music:
16th-ranked EP of 2022 (all genres)
698th-ranked EP of all-time (all genres)

#deathmetal #avantgarde #ritualistic #nightmarefuel #metal