Painted Black: Cold Comfort

The first thing that drew me towards Portuguese band Painted Black was the album sleeve. After playing Cold Comfort I was pulled in even further especially with their Katatonia, Moonspell and Anathema references.

The album features an intense beauty as it plays with varying approaches, gothic twisted tones, dynamic and powerful doom and metallic outburst that present, god forbid an air of commerciality in the looses sense of the term, music that is dark, cold, atmospheric and self believing.

The band has tried to maintain an air of originality, although at times it does feel somewhat like a homage to the genre, albeit a very good one, mixing up tempos and melody, being well structured. The real star though is vocalist Daniel Lucas who switches between the expressive downright beautiful to the dirty gruff grunting with the flick of a switch, mirroring the musical interaction and contributions of the band.

The music is precise and exacting as one would expect creating a very strong debut album. There are quite a few highlights hidden throughout the album, but for me the stand out tracks are Via Dolorosa, Absent Heart, Cold Comfort and Inevitability.

Track Listing:
1 Via Dolorosa
2 Shadowbound
3 The End Of Tides
4 Absent Heart
5 Cold Comfort (Release)
6 Winter (Storm)
7 The Rain In June (Out Of Season)
8 Inevitability

Added: October 16th 2011
Reviewer: John OBoyle
Score:
Related Link: www.myspace.com/blacktapestry
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Language: english

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