ColdCell - Age of Unreasoning

ColdCell is a black metal band from Switzerland, who formed in 2012. Their latest album, “Age of Unreasoning,” is their fifth full-length album; they have also released an EP.

This is my first experience with the band's brand of black metal but I'm impressed. Their sound is a very convincing mixture of atmospheric leaning and a classic black metal sound. 

It is aggressive and extreme but not in a rushed way. Of course there are faster tempo parts throughout the album but the band certainly isn't afraid to take a slower approach, a methodical look at their own style to let it all marinate and sink in.

And it will do just that--this is a creepy album, unnerving and vile in many ways. Fans would argue that's the point of black metal but “Age of Unreasoning” approaches the style in such a way that these elements are just two more weapons in their arsenal. This is a layered album and peeling back each one exposes a different form of which the dark, bleak melancholic sound of their destruction takes.  I really like the production. It's wide enough to capture all the aspects of the band's sound but not so expensive they can't see the forest for all the trees.

The album opens with “Hope and Failure” and the atmosphere begins to sink I'm almost immediately…a certain finality soaks into the psyche alongside the riffs and drums. The vocals are desperate, maddening growls and screams that work so well with the slower tempo. The drums soon kick it up a notch but the music is just as ethereal as it is intense…..it's an unique approach that pays off.

The feeling of being broken and destitute arrives with “Left,” a cold song that had s cold chill running down my spine for its entire run time. The drums are front and center , beating over the riffs that hang in the air like hung men saying on their ropes in the wind. The intensity grows steadily, like the rumble of an impending earthquake. The vocals grasp on these emotional tendrils tightly, swinging the song into freighting territory.

Ines Brodbeck provides vocals for “Meaningless,” and her touch is emotional, raw and just as powerful as the blackened vocals in the other songs. The music ebbs and flows alongside her vocals as it finally explodes into an uncommon fury.

The final song, “Discord,” feels like has been shaken up and is frothing towards the top. The song gets there but in a subtle way; instead of bubbling over and erupting, their musical concoction swells and crashes against the inside barriers.

With “The Age of Unreasoning,” ColdCell has crafted one of the best black metal albums I've heard this year.