If time is a flat circle, then two things are true:

1) Deathcore coming back to prominence was inevitable.

2) Andrew Baena, Johnny Ciardullo, Cooper Lagace and Travis Regnier were destined to form another band.

Vancouver’s Carcosa formed from the ashes of djenty metalcore band Galactic Pegasus, deciding to kill that band off as the music they were writing trended in a deadlier direction. So intense was their devotion to death that the body was still warm when they started the new project.

Writing began back in June 2019, eight months before they’d put their alma mater to rest at a final show. Carcosa’s June 2020 unveiling and the release of the Absent EP two months later solidified not just a disregard for the dead but a mastery over it.

While past music gazed to the future with a progressive mindset, Carcosa’s deathcore stares into the abyss—knowing everything happens in cycles but with the nihilistic outlook that everything ends. Indeed, their name, as well as the black, yellow and spiral-laden imagery, were inspired by the first season of True Detective.

Hell, it could be argued that their lyrics and even sound came from the hopeless mind of Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey). The music borders on apocalyptic, but rather than giving in accepts the bleak end as the twin of the hopeful beginning. It’s the kind of doom-and-gloom through which The Acacia Strain and Chelsea Grin channeled their brutality, tempered with the futuristic noises of contemporaries like Humanity’s Last Breath and Brand of Sacrifice.

In fact, Brand of Sacrifice vocalist Kyle Anderson shows up to guest scream on a revamped version of “Our Scars,” and is joined by Jake Wolf (Reflections), Taylor Barber (Left to Suffer), Ricky Hoover (Ov Sulfur, ex-Suffokate), Chad Kapper (Frontierer) and Charlie Pears-Smith fill out the Absent songs present on Anthology. That five-song journey through depression, despair, loss and love is preceded by subsequent single “Devoid,” three new singles, an interlude and intro.

Though the lyrics don’t follow the tragic journey of their debut, the collection renews its endless loop construction. The new release was released on the one-year anniversary of its predecessor (August 19) and the final track seamlessly segues to the opening of both.

This was done intentionally for Absent, but on Anthology happened without conscious thought, proving that time is a flat circle, indeed.