I remember this Swiss band from their debut album Generation Abomination back in 2013. The group even though new really impressed with an album that I said back at the time “reeked of professionalism”. Since then, I heard nothing more despite the fact ColdCell have seemingly released a couple more full-lengths. Now after a complete silence of 5 years they are back after the release of “Those” in 2017 and newly signed by French tour-de-force Ladlo Productions. A quick recap shows that the early line up is pretty much intact apart from a guitarist coming and going in the interim and band members also now include the drummer of Schammasch as well as ex members of Guignol Noir and Darkestrah. One thing is quickly evident here and that is that the bands level of professionalism has grown ever in stature and that this is a formidable album. That debuts title still rings true as far as their thoughts and narrative are concerned too, the band describing themselves as “extinction’s advocates” and that this album is a “heartbroken ode of despair to the futile selfishness of mankind.” Sadly, this is something all too noticeable in the world we live in as we hurtle towards destroying it in the thoughtless pursuit of our daily lives.
The first of these seven weighty tracks ‘Scapegoat Season’ catches the listener slightly off guard when play is pressed as we are introduced to some lamenting clean vocals from singer S and have no idea how things are going to progress. The sorrow is etched around the subject matter and a wreath having been laid a very melodic guitar line starts to unravel (a touch of Slayer about it no less) before the weight fully crunches in and we are hurtled over the precipice into a pit of malevolent and destructive darkness for the next 50-minutes or so. The darkness is obsidian and all consuming, the force is fearsome and the vocals in their more guttural and craggy pitch are simply ravenous along with it. This is powerful and rugged but not without moments of delicacy due to the melody from those cold and icy guitar lines which are grandiose and indulgent during the breaks from all-out surging speed. The vocals are incredibly expressive too and ex- Guignol Noir singer S has authoritative tones which are really commanding and force their way out the musical tumult. The blackness here is of an orthodox nature and there is something very arcane and mysterious about its melodicism which fills the gaps between bursts of abrasive violence with a shimmering deliciousness that you can’t help but wallow in. It is an attack on “Those,” who seem to be a favoured subject matter remaining from the last album, whose ignorance and mindlessness have led us all down the destructive path we find ourselves in. Tinfoil hats are mentioned in the song and the vocalist declares that “I climbed, I conquered mount stupid” but you can’t help thinking we are all guilty to some extent and nobody is blameless. Anger clearly follows and the ‘Open Wound’ of the next track is left to boil over and seethe with indignation as it violently attacks from all angles. The words cut if you have access to them and this is very much an album preaching from an altar of fire and brimstone, alas its too late and our future is doomed, that much is foretold and this is at times very much its violent symphony as we tear our borrowed home apart.
The music is just as intelligent and involving as the album’s subject matter, it’s constructed to take you down many paths and is focussed with a suitably massive production. Schammasch are a good comparison being a band whose first listen leaves you suitably befuddled and only touching the tips of the experience, needing you to go back time and again for its complexities to unfold. It’s obvious on the first spin here that this is an incredibly powerful album but it is one that a key is needed to carefully unlock doors along the way before you truly find yourself fully in its depths. Irony, sarcasm and scorn are all prevailing factors on the theme of ‘Greatest Of All Species’ this is not an album that is going to offer any answers, it is not one that is going to have a happy ending, there is no light at the end of the barrage from this blackened tunnel we have been forced down as we hurtle ever forward to oblivion. The magnificence is however found in the music and bleak though it is, it is not without some form of joy as it showers us in the inevitability of oncoming demise and leads us ‘Back Into The Ocean’ from once we first evolved. The message at the end is simple ‘No Escape,’ the music and the thought that has gone into its destructive construction is far from that though and for those that herald the end of everything there is no denying the fact that ColdCell are indeed more than worthy of their self-described status of “extinction’s advocates!” Hopefully though we might get some more music from them before….. the end of all things.
(8.5/10 Pete Woods)
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