Album Review: Qrixkuor - The Womb Of The World
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Qrixkuor are a rather enigmatic name, having risen within London, United Kingdom, to become this elusive force that’s bent many a set of eyes their way and their uncompromising soundscape. Having formed in 2011 the band, led by he known as his stage name, S, alongside a new drummer who shall mark his first album credit with the band, D, seek to release Qrixkuor’s second full length record. With S also playing guitar in Adorior’s vicious release last year, newcomers should expect unnerving and unapologetic onslaughts upon the senses. A decade following their inception, Qrixkuor finally saw the release of their first album, the much celebrated and analysed Poison Palinopsia, back in 2021. With another four years under their belts Qrixkuor are back with The Womb Of The World this time through Invictus Records. As the nights prolong this record finds itself slated for a November 7th release and I was very excited to delve within. I had a strong idea what I was letting myself in for from the start.
I haven’t encountered such a visceral, outright targeting of the senses in some time. 2025 has given us some incredible pieces of music where pummelling the senses has been a byproduct, but The Womb Of The World sees that objective transferred from the secondary to the primary. Throughout its fifty minute runtime Qrixkuor offer you absolutely no reprieve, no hiding, from this gargantuan opus. If there were even a millimetre of air left unfilled the band go out of their way to throw a dozen things in to fill the space. The record is sonically titanic and while other albums allude to the otherness, the residual scope their work doesn’t touch upon, Qrixkuor throw all caution to the wind and ensure their audience recieves the totality of their work at every moment; The Womb Of The World will have you believing in the scale of what they’re working with and, with the concluding title track pushing seventeen minutes, nary a second of unwasted time or effort, Qrixkuor grasp you tight with no escape. The crashing cadence of guitars and tearing vocals, coupled with the din of nightmarish and scintillating corruption given sound, gives Qirxkuor a fearsome persona.
The production applied here is utterly insane. Newcomers are destined to be submerged by the deluge of atmosphere Qrixkuor bring to the table for its not just straight instrumentation on display, but a plethora of miscellaneous, atmospheric components rearing their heads. Though drums and vocals will pierce the mire the band throw in wailing audio clips, archaic dissonance akin to the halls of the damned. There are string sections, riffs perverting the natural order, layered within an atmosphere so thick one could slice it cleanly with knives. But most amazingly is Qrixkuor’s capacity to convey such monstrous tone and damnation with the inherent direction and polished flair; there’s so much happening at any given time yet there’s restraint to what’s thrown at us. There are instances where it’ll charge at you with frenzied abandon, instances where it pulls back somewhat to let you digest the totality of their sound, and instances where all else dissipates to allow the band themselves to bring you to the next phase unspoiled. While listeners verify the number of elements present it never becomes too much. Experiencing The Womb Of The World is nothing less than peeling back the veneer of the cosmos to lay light upon that which void ever ruled.
Its staggering how the band can throw these huge pieces at us without letting up the intensity, without applying typical expectations of variety into their songwriting, and still leave us coming away thinking it was all too short. I think this comes down to the mix; as aforementioned Qrixkuor possess an insane amount of power under their belts and they aren’t afraid to flex, due to the nature of this record audiences know right from the start the band aren’t about to go easy on them. But balancing all this is no easy feat which is why, recognising how we can pick up on so many things at once and understanding the purpose each plays within the songwriting, the mix is absolutely superb. One does not go into a Qrixkuor record for a casual visit; its a prolonged and deliberated experience that will leave one torn and depleted, where so much energy has been thrown into beholding it one becomes an emaciated shell by its concluding chords. The riffs across this record are gigantic, grand enough to swallow smaller acts tenfold over, and still the grandeur this record commands admiration as you attempt discerning the true scope of The Womb Of The World.
Then again, I would argue this is the kind of record where instrumentation and vocals, incredible and theatrical as they are alone, are simply the immediate forces Qrixkuor themselves inject into their sound. The Womb Of The World is an experience where all things Qrixkuor possess smashes together with antediluvian fervour; their riffs and drumming carry a great deal of strength and momentum and they’d be formidable as they are, but when you take into account every other thing Qrixkuor are happy to imbue their sound with it lends their sound power hitherto undreamt of. Furthermore Qrixkuor don’t appear to employ standardised approaches to song structure, I couldn’t notice the usual bridges or verses or choruses across this record. I don’t think that’s Qrixkuor’s style. This bolsters the band’s unorthodox approach herein where their sound, apocalyptic as it is, never sits in the same place for long. There are segments that clearly hold placement within a track and the band develop their sound around a particular section before enough has been imparted requiring them to move on, but a track may exhibit multiple of these sections which is why a single track can feel like three mashed together and why their soundscape is so ludicrously abyssal. Its the kind of record that will have your head in your hands as you try comprehending the depths of evil Qrixkuor delve for.
In conclusion, The Womb Of The World is an enormous beast where a great multitude of horror is brought before you and yet you can’t bear to look away. Its identity is so alien and so unknowing that one only deepens their descent into madness out of rabid curiosity. Its the kind of album where you know you’ve adored every moment shared with it but couldn’t explain why, resulting in you diving back in from the start. The Womb Of The World is a record not to be viewed in the vein as by a band, but rather something containing a sonic, virulent journey into eldritch and untapped realms. It is incredibly immersive and it doesn’t need to try; the immersion established is so organic where feelings one has towards it believes this is the sole way this record could possibly sound. As the band hit you with everything they have, and the culmination of everything this record has been driving towards, in the end they achieve genuinely jawdropping music. The end of this record sees the band reaching unto bastard divinity, rewriting natural law, untenable doctrines of the infinite laid low, rendering infinitesimal the Lutherian evils, for atmosphere alone The Womb Of The World is an absolutely breathtaking triumph and without a doubt an Album Of The Year contender. What Qrixkuor have done in just four tracks is downright herculean, a towering obelisk championing extreme metal’s promise to push what is ever possible on record. Incomprehensibly outstanding.
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