vote
6.5
- Bands:
COLDBORN - Duration: 00:46:06
- Available from: 10/05/2024
- Label:
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Final Sacrifice Records
Eight years have passed since the now distant debut “Lingering Voidwards” of the solo project Coldborn behind which we find the all-rounder Norgaath (who in the meantime, starting exactly from 2018, has joined Enthroned as bassist), but the project is still alive and this is demonstrated by the new and second full-length “The Unwritten Pages Of Death”, in which we find Menthor (Enthroned) on drums as a guest.
Given Nargaath’s membership in groups such as Enthroned or Nightbringer, let’s immediately say that the sound of this project is quite different and if there are any points of contact with the other two bands they are really faint. In terms of atmosphere, however, there are some points in common with Enthroned from a few albums ago, but even in this case it can be said that Coldborn are an independent entity that tries to follow its own stylistic path.
And it is precisely the dark atmosphere that the group manages to create that is the strong point of this release with a nocturnal flavour: arcane harmonies are placed on an imposing rhythmic base, created by simple and old-school riffs, with synths that they serve to create a gloomy background.
Scratching riffs and claustrophobic atmospheres manage to coexist together in a successful song like “The Antechamber Of Eternal Sleep”, while on the subsequent “Harps Of Death Chiming Reverberant” we go back over the years, to that mystical and nocturnal black metal in which melodic riffs are suspended on a slow rhythmic pace and rise together with the atmospheres given by the keyboard carpets until they become a transcendental sensorial experience.
Not the whole album is full of these moments, but from time to time there are noteworthy passages within it. Perhaps Coldborn are at their best when they think of black metal as a means of creating an emotional experience rather than exclusively violent music.
The stylistic path does not seem to have been firmly undertaken yet and makes this release half-finished. The good ideas are there, in the future this project will be ready to propose something truly remarkable. Hopefully this will happen in the near future.
