Clocking the band name and album title I instantly had an idea in my head that this lot were going to be filthy cyber black metal in line with the likes of Aborym and Blacklodge. Of course I was partly wrong and don’t want to give Swiss group Cold Cell an identity crisis as they have recently changed their name from Atritas, which they already released three albums under. Unfortunately I had not heard any of their material under the name which I am informed was symphonic black metal so cannot compare it to this and I am not sure what necessitated their name change either so having played this a fair few times and found it an excellent album let’s cut to the chase giving them a completely new start in the process.
I immediately noted that the album was fairly lengthy with the ten songs averaging a good 6 minutes plus in length. ‘EndZeitGeist’ leads the charge with burgeoning and whiplashing riffs flailing with destructive force yet not afraid to slow into an oozing cold place giving things a sense of both fury and majesty. Vocals from S (yep one of that school of member names) are well defined in the mix and rasp with throaty gravidness really making their mark no matter how tempestuous the musical surge gets. The band seem to have pretty high-brow themes about the album which deals with death of spirituality and the superficial takeover of technology. Yep I would much more prefer listening to this on the old gramophone rather than MP3 so can see where they are coming from and as a “statement against the Zeitgeist” the feudal cleave at times certainly takes this back to dark medieval times.
There’s a great sense of atmosphere and huge melodic emphasis on the compositions here and it pretty much hits everything I like about the genre. The album is not a quick one to get into either as it takes a fair few listens to unveil hidden depths so don’t go looking for a quick fix here. The title track has some great hooks from the guitars that glisten and shine after a gloomy start but there is also a sense of complete despair and nihilism about the depressive tones making it quite clear that this is a generation that needs cleansing from the very earth it is raping. At times the band add to the creepiness with some Fabio Frizzi sounding choral chants sounding like souls from beyond. This really breathes death into the amusingly entitled ‘Shitfaced Existence’ making it a particularly potent track.
Revelling in the brutality and vocals proclaiming “I am nothing” with sinister commanding guitar lines on songs like ‘The Perception Of One And All’ wrongly puts a smile on my face and the paradox of making me glad to be alive and listening to this is duly noted. Although the cyber industrial tag is not correct there is a certain crossover as songs like ‘Stereotypes Of A Sick Spawn’ have the manic fervour of bands like Otargos about them though perhaps this is due to their ‘Apex Terror’ being fresh in my mind. Proving that they have quite a lot of ideas up their cloak sleeves last number Neon Fade-Out comes with a surprise in the form of some unexpected retro sounding keyboards weaving through the number in a Borknagar etched fashion.
I note the band have played just a couple of shows in their home country but it would be wrong to say that this is the first time or that this is a debut album. It certainly reeks of professionalism and is a solid album which hopefully will see the group build up from their new beginnings into a well-respected tour-de-force.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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