I have thoroughly enjoyed New Jersey’s Cognitive rise through the underground ranks since their first EP in 2012 – The Horrid Swarm.  I became friends with guitarist Rob Wharton, reviewed several of their early releases, finally met him on one of his tours years ago and he saw me touring with Internal Bleeding, as well […]

You are starting to hear and feel the impact of covid and the chaotic final year of Trump’s administration on some albums being put out now. Albums that were written in seclusion, online, in depressive states, in rage. I think we are seeing a real creative burst in the metal scene, that might be one […]

It’s rare I get to have the pleasure of reviewing all the releases from an active band.  Cognitive are one such band.  I reviewed their ep, The Horrid Swarm and interviewed guitarist Rob Wharton several years ago.  The band dropped their self-titled debut 2 years ago and I was pleasantly surprised to hear more technical […]

Cognitive is a brutal technical death metal hailing from New Jersey.  I met guitarist, Rob Wharton, through Internal Bleeding guitarist, Chris Pervelis, last year and Rob and I hit it off pretty quickly with our sarcastic sense of humor.  He sent me their ep, The Horrid Swarm and I was an instant fan.  I met up with him on their tour with Wormed, last fall, and was able to talk at length with him, regarding the band and everyday life.  Cognitive put on a blistering set that night and it was awesome to see them crush!  I even picked myself up a shirt, that has some vicious looking demon on it, with sharp teeth, giving a gruesome smile.  Scares the hell outta my kids everytime I wear the shirt.

Cognitive is an up and coming young band from New Jersey, playing death metal that is of the brutal variety with a strong emphasis on technicality.  Their self released 2012 ep, The Horrid Swarm is an incredible piece of Tri-State area brutality.  They have finally secured a record deal with Spanish label, Pathologically Explicit Recordings; […]