We look at the new offering from Crimson Moonlight, a Swedish unblack band that has been around a lot longer than you would think…
[tracklist]
01. The Dogma Of Chalcedon
02. The Suffering
03. Divine Darkness
04. I Am Tribulation
05. Voistinu Voskrese
06. Kingdom Of The Wolf
07. Dusk
08. In Silence, In Chains
[/tracklist]
[details]
[record_label]Endtime Productions[/record_label]
[release_date]February 26th 2016[/release_date]
[/details]
Crimson Moonlight are certainly a band that have flown under the radar for far too long. We didn’t particularly know a whole lot about them until now when they announced their new record ‘Divine Darkness‘. They have even had drummer Nicholas Barker among their ranks who has played in almost every popular black and gothic metal band. It probably says something that this band might be under-appreciated. So let’s look at ‘Divine Darkness‘ then.
The album wastes no time in getting the ball rolling with a combo of ferocious death and black metal that serves as the node of this bands sound. Creative chords and licks are threaded together almost instantly building intensity with the progressive throw of blast beats. It is indeed the opener of ‘The Dogma of Chalcedon‘ that makes us wonder why we’ve never investigated Crimson Moonlight further.
As the album moves on to ‘The Suffering‘ the bands sound comes to prominence with some excellent layers of consistency in guitar work, consistent and grandiose with baroque synths creating an intense atmosphere. The tracks are full of energy yet representative of total darkness, that is something really creates a fantastic listening experience for the album.
To say the sound is the band’s own might be a bit of an overstatement, as there are clear influential traces of Dimmu Borgir style chord progressions with a bit of drum-work a la Behemoth, but what Crimson Moonlight have done with this album works on every level. Tracks like ‘Divine Darkness‘ and ‘Kingdom of the Wolf‘ simply kick your ass, and playing these through a stereo that max out the bass and treble sound awesome.
After listening to ‘Divine Darkness‘ the band will surely turn you on to discovering what they have offered in the past. They create a death metal piece that is consistent and highly-enjoyable to listen to – one of those pieces that you would want to turn on in the morning to get your day going, and one you would want to end with on a positive note.
[verdict]Yes[/verdict]
[why]A super-energetic album that is an entertaining listen from top to bottom. ‘Divine Darkness’ doesn’t offer anything entirely unique, but takes the best elements of blackened death metal, speeds them up and threads them together with gold lining.[/why]
