COLDCELL – Age Of Unreason

vote
7.5

• Band:
  COLDCELL
• Duration: 00:45:21
• Available from: 26/07/2024
• Label:

• AOP Records

The new “Age Of Unreason” represents the fifth release for the Swiss ColdCell, a band from Basel active since 2012 that shares with their fellow countrymen Schmammasch one of the members, the drummer aW. Although the terrain on which both groups move is not too dissimilar, the sound of ColdCell does not reach the same peaks of avant-garde, settling on a modern black metal, which borrows the atmospheric component from a certain Scandinavian post-metal mixing it with the more traditional school. The result is intense, dynamic and violent enough to not lose sight of the typical aggressiveness of the genre and, although not always very original, there is no lack of passages and personal solutions that break up the narrative allowing moments of wider breath.
“Age Of Unreason” opens with the notes of “Hope And Failure” whose catastrophic atmospheres bring to mind Cult Of Luna before throwing itself into a violent maelstrom made of suffocating rhythms and guitars that get lost in walls of reverb, alternated by clean and midtempo arpeggios that border on depressive shores. “Dead To The World” has a completely different mood, a long ritual with a mystical and cinematic flavor, which mixes post-rock, sneaky apocalyptic choirs supported by obsessive riffs and very fast discharges, in a continuous alternation between desperation and anxiety. An approach, this, that is very reminiscent of the school Nidarosian of bands like Misotheist or Whoredome Rife.
One of the greatest strengths of this album is the desire to give each song its own personality, without necessarily falling into the risk of repeating the same formula over and over again and always maintaining a basic coherence. Even in the direct “Left” or “Solidarity Of Solitude”, the more classically black metal passages encounter depressive elements and a good dose of dynamics in the mood swings that always keep the attention bar high enough. Perhaps, the only moment that tends to drag on more than necessary is the long “Sink Our Souls”, which transports us to territories dear to Shining but lacks a bit in effectiveness, something that the conclusive “Discord” excels in, with complex arrangements that recall the best Ihsahn solo.
There is no shortage of female voices that insinuate themselves between the almost dissonant arpeggios of the splendid “Meaningless”, with its avant-garde mood and which recalls the Norwegians Atrox in the unlikely vocal melodies that act as a counterpoint to a finale built on constant blast beats.
Compared to the past, ColdCell seem to play more on immediacy without necessarily sacrificing a search for less orthodox arrangements. In a genre like atmospheric black metal, which often risks remaining an end in itself, the Swiss seem to continue on a non-trivial path, certainly already beaten but which deserves absolute attention.