Who'd have guessed that Cadaverous Condition vocalist Wolfgang Weiss would somehow stumble across my previous and completely random review of their split 10" with Changes and then offer to send me their latest record, 'Burn Brightly Alone?' Well, that's what happened and I'm glad it did because this is quite a special record from these Austrian's that deserves more attention.
That previous mentioned 10" vinyl, 'Time' was strictly in their unique death folk style, whereas on this latest effort we get the full CC experience, which basically involves songs that are both melodic influenced death metal as well as neo folk in style, but traces of doom, sprinkles of piano, various samples and even a depressive black metal part can be found in this fifty one minute album. Generally mid-paced with chuggin' rock-ish riffs and a heavy guitar tone, the bass is audible and often has moments of its own brilliance as well the drums fit the pace of the music and the vocals are delivered in both Wolfgang's guttural death metal approach as well as some cleanly sung parts. The lyrics are simple but still poetic in their delivery as tales of love, loss and isolation seem to be the requiring themes.
One of my early favorites on this album is, 'We Both Go Down Together,' which has fast paced acoustic guitars alongside a tradeoff of guttural and cleanly sung parts and an odd sort of pace and vibe that's both melancholy and uplifting, while 'Wicklow NIghtfall' is my personal favorite on this album. Opening with a catchy bass riff and light drumming, a very melodic and slightly depressing requiring guitar riff eventually takes the center stage as a story of love and lies are told throughout this highly memorable one. 'Order Of The Forlorn' opens with ominous dark ambiance and the odd scratchings of a saw can be heard before eventually turning into a totally pummeling death metal song, whereas, 'The Small Roads Out Of Town' is another song in the death folk style, though it has this odd sort of rock-ish pace to it that makes it noteworthy. 'Shine Unseen, Then Disappear' has a very death/doom stride as well as both clean male and what appears to be female vocals (but apparently is not) alongside Wolfgang in the middle of the song. Generally the other eight songs are decent too and I don't find any of them to be outright bad or forgettable in any way.
'Burn Brightly Alone' is a diverse and challenging album to get into, but its definitely one to check out for the more adventurous listeners out there or just someone that might be looking for something a bit different.
No comments:
Post a Comment