by Sebastian Kluth
Par kluseba
I'm usually a big fan of the German pioneer gothic metal band Crematory but this record is probably the weakest one in their discography. The album heads for a modern sound with melodic keyboards samples, a bigger focus on clean vocals and rather catchy hooks. But the band performs without much conviction and especially the clean vocals by Mathias Hechler which I usually like a lot sound quite weak and pointless on most of the tracks. Let's add to this that the German lyrics are filled with stereotypes and sound rather embarrassing to me. Especially the fact that they try to make a lot of simplistic rhymes in almost all songs is quite annoying and proves the low lyrical skills of the band.
The worst example is probably the annoying "Kein Liebeslied" that has horrible lyrics and a really cheesy hook. The potential catchy but soulless hit single "Hoffnungen", the softer and pointless "Ein Leben lang" and the horribly boring and artificially sounding ballads "Der Nächste" as well as the closing "Spiegel meiner Seele" remind me a lot of more commercial bands of the genre such as BlutEngel, Wolfsheim or even Mono Inc but at a lower level than the mentioned groups. The band abandons almost completely their metal roots on this album as this tries to please much more to the gothic and dark wave scene than to the metal and rock fans. That's why I can't only recommend this record to a more limited fan base that rather likes modern and commercial gothic music than the early gothic and death metal material of the band.
But nevertheless which style you prefer, nothing excuses the lack of passion and conviction in both clean and harsh vocals and in the exchangeable lyrics. Let's add to that that there is not one great guitar solo or haunting keyboard line in the entire record. I can't find one single truly catchy, addicting and memorable song even though most of the tracks concentrate on simple, catchy and commercial choruses. It simply doesn't feel as if the band does what they would like to do on this record. Thos doesn't sound like Crematory but like some commercial and soulless clones of them. The whole thing sounds numb and pointless. The album varies only from mellow to acceptable from the beginning to the end. Only the memories, some fragments that remind of the band's glorious past efforts and the great gimmicks included in the lovely special edition (including an average remix version of the entire record, a patch, an autographed postcard and a poster) keep me away from giving an even harsher rating to the album. This record is only for true fans and collectors. Anybody else should avoid this at all costs and try out the albums "Revolution" or "Pray" just before or after this disappointing release.
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