Celebrating their 15th anniversary, Crematory
is a band that has amassed attention in the gothic & death metal fields.
For the past few years, they have also found hordes more of fans from the
industrial & avant-garde musical settings. With their 9th album, “Klagebilder,”
there is again an equilibrium that covers all these styles in a single formula.
This album is their first album whereas English lyrics and song titles are
nowhere to be found. Everything is in their native German tongue. This takes
virtually nothing away from the melodic-based catchiness that they have
been known for. For most of us in the States, though, we just won't know
the words as clearly.... just sing along in German and shut up I guess!!!
Hah! Felix still belches more than half the time, and has also become quite
the clean vocalist as well through the years. I suppose Matthias deserves
some credit too! Katrin’s key-patterns are now the backbone of Crematory,
which actually sounds very sweet & very unique for the style of metal.
They make Crematory... Crematory. That's not to say the electric & bass
guitars have taken any major leaps backwards. On the contrary, Matthias
& Harald have pinpointed a much heavier- almost black-ish metal tone
in their instruments with a lot of progressive rock feel as well. Markus
might be the best of them all... his drumwork has to be perfect to cover
all of the vast styles of music within Crematory and whence... it is! It
may sound pretty basic from time to time, but the time signatures are so
tight, it's ridiculous. He's the real-deal NIN drummer behind the kit -
with real-deal madness! Oh and I failed to mention, this album contains
13 tracks & over 50 minutes of music. This album should satisfy everyone
who admired "Revolution" except the language change... but it
will matter not when you press the play button. Crematory rules!!
Rating: 97
Reviewed By: Thomas Mitchell |
