‘No chance of reconciliation, No room to grieve, In life we are promised only one thing, Catastrophe to suffer regardless’ (In Life…)

Wicked Dream is the debut 7-inch from Richmond, Virginia’s Cicada, who feature members of the equally incendiary Black Button, and to claim that it is an intense ride would be something of an understatement.  This is savagely dense, intrinsically sinister hardcore.  It literally seethes with ideas that flare fleetingly before we are plunged back into the roiling discordance.

Yet at no time does this sound like a band simply throwing ideas around chaotically.  Such is the band’s taut control that there is always a sense of a sound that, for all of its writhing inventiveness, is firmly anchored to deliver truly venomous velocity.  The harshly grunted vocals are drenched in dark desperation at lives evolving without purpose, fuelled by relentless consumption and atomised isolation.

The highlights come thick and fast as the band unleash nine tracks in as many minutes.   The EP sweeps from the wild, psychedelia-tinged opener Epiphany to the martial squall of In Life…, while the metallic fury of Much Worse segues into the hauntingly melodic intro to the brutal stomp of the title track, before dissolving into the frenzied free for all of closer Desperation Ceremony.  The striking, darkly unsettling artwork seals the deal.