With the release of their 11th studio album, Crematory seems to be telling everyone that they intend to produce phenomenally entertaining metal to Infinity. I thought that their last album Prey was a massively underrated work and one that would be hard to top. Well, turn a little more toward the industrial sound the band has been gravitation toward and give the clean vocals of Matthias Hechler a bit more prominence, add some very catchy gothic melodies with eerie keyboards and the end result will blow you away.
The true test of any disc is if you want to hear it again after the first time through. You know you really have something when you don't want to take it out of the player. That is what happened with this album. With each play I could find something different that is a treat to the ears. If not a great guitar riff, then the growl of Gerhard Stass providing the gothic texture to this dizzying melodic disc, or it may be the rich undercurrent that the keyboards provide makes this an album that easily is one of the outstanding efforts so far this year.
The title track "Infinity" leads off the disc and really sets the tone for all that you will hear as the vocal tennis match between Gerhard and Matthias become the battle between light and dark which the song is about. Amidst pounding guitars and swirling keyboards you can almost feel the cosmic battle between good and evil. Truly heady stuff and music that gets under the skin, this is what it is all about and these guys have perfected the formula. There is a touch of industrial, Rammstein like sound permeating this song and the whole disc but never too strong. It is just enough to keep you on your toes and banging your head!
The clean vocals they use really make this record have a feeling of yin and yang to it. It has a much lighter feel with the underlying keyboards uplifting you while Stass and his growl provide a much darker attitude. On a song like "Sense Of Time", Out Of Mind" or "No One Knows" where this tennis match of vocal styles really shine, you feel as well as hear the contrast. With the keyboards dueling with the guitars in a similar manner it is a striking montage of sound that hits your ears.
This all comes to a climax in their rework of the Depeche Mode rework "Black Celebration." The guttural vocals of Gerhard and the heaviness that they add to this song turns it into a gothic anthem that takes this song into realms that the original never thought of entering. I never thought much of the song before but with the way that Crematory delivers it, this song has been rattling around in my head for days now.
Simply put, these guys know how to bring it in a style that is something that I want to listen to more and more. They have a heaviness that appeals to my metal head id and there is a melodic, lighter feel that goes down just great with a cappuccino. The layers of sound are amazing and it is one where you will find something new each time you spin it. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up. It is a real winner.
Track listing:
1. Infinity
2. Sense Of Time
3. Out Of Mind
4. Black Celebration
5. Never Look Back
6. Broken Halo
7. Where Are You Now
8. A Story About…
9. No One Knows
10. Auf Der Flucht
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