Crematorium "For All Our Sins" CD
[Prosthetic]
I'd be lying if I said I was all that impressed with Crematorium's last full-length, but their more recent EP, "A World Where Only Nightmares Prevail", was much better, and this record is a step above it all. Most of the music revolves around a mix of traditional and modern thrash/death metal, but they even throw in some dirge-like Crowbar harmonies and metalcore breakdowns at times, among other things. And the vocals are literally all over the place from guttural low growls to midrange shouts to sick high screams or spoken passages. There are also a lot of interesting vocal patterns that aren't that common for the genre. "Nightmares Fused Within Reality" tosses around tons of classic dissonant and chunky death metal riffing and some backwards vocals that really stand out. About halfway through the record they take a breather with "A Disconsolate Winter Landscape": A clean instrumental with some experimental noise textures and what sounds like subtle programmed percussion in the background (even though they're actually live drums under heavy effects). Very nice. "Life:Sick" drops an awesome melodic solo and some great thrash riffing that brings back some memories, but it still has that modern flare (in a tasteful way). "Hidden" has more melody to the riffing and is really memorable with its great mix of acoustic guitars and distorted guitars. And then "From Order and Chaos" is another great little instrumental with some awesome classical styled guitars and a twisted dark ambient/death industrial soundscape that brings the record to a close with some of the same textures that started it off. The production is pretty damn good. The guitar tone is heavy but surprisingly clear, to the point where you can make out very minor details in the texture of the tone; the clean guitars are pristine; the drums sound solid, barely rigid and for the most part there's a good snap to everything; the bass is there; and the vocals rest barely in front of the music. I think I'd turn the bass up a little bit not only to give it more definition but to beef up the rhythms even more and fill in the minor gaps between the mix, but it's not bad at all. I can't comment on the artwork here because, well... I did it. So I'll just talk about the layout itself in brief. The reproductions of the paintings are surprisingly clear, and I like the fact that there's not really any text in the booklet other than the band logo in the center spread and the text that is actually embedded in the paintings themselves. I would have chosen different typefaces and arrangements for the text that appears under the CD tray and on the back cover, but it's not so bad. I can deal with it. They didn't include lyrics or anything, so most of the content is kept a mystery. Having seen some of the lyrics myself most of the songs deal with personal reflection and observation with a tendency towards the negative aspects of life and some slight apocalyptic overtones, as the album title might suggest. All in all this is a great progression for Crematorium, and the CD is actually better than I had initially expected. If they continue down this road they're sure to start turning some heads. I'd love to hear them develop more of the subtle complexities of tracks like "Hidden" and definitely work in some more solos, but at the same time the experimental textures and the clean guitars are also something I'd like to hear explored further... there's definitely a lot going on. I'm pleased. (7/10)
Running time - 38:18, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: Nightmares Fused Within Reality, A Disconsolate Winter Landscape, Life:Sick, Hidden, From Order and Chaos]
Crematorium - http://www.crematoriummusic.com

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