I’ve accumulated a big list of songs and videos to recommend since the last round-up earlier in the week, too many to cram into a single post. It seemed like an obvious call to chisel these two bands off the assembled monolith of music, even at the risk of deepening the confusion between them that probably already exists.
The thing is, the music of each band is materially different from that of the other, though there are a few points of intersection in the elements of black metal that they each draw upon. And both of them are very, very good. Maybe the confusion will turn out to help, as people searching for one band will discover the attractions of the other.
I flipped a coin and am starting with the band whose name is two words and no “s” on the end.
COLD FELL
Cold Fell come from Manchester in the north of England, and their debut album Irwell will be released by Argento Records on March 3. On February 13, DECIBEL premiered a track called “Bone Ceiling”.
I have an embarrassing degree of lust for this song. It’s a piece of rampant, boiling, black metal fury. The energy pulses and surges, and the main riff just burrows relentlessly into your head — and then it starts twisting and turning, and damned if that one isn’t a burrower too.
The drum rhythm shifts from maniacal to deliberate, and the riffs still stay strong. But when the energy boils over again at the end, you may feel like tearing your clothes off and running into the streets like a crazy person, ready to spread the joy or take a crowbar to passing cars, and maybe that’s the same thing.
The DECIBEL stream is an exclusive, so I’ll have to send you HERE to listen to it. Pre-order at this location:
http://argentorecords.bigcartel.com
You can also stream the previously-released track “Skull Crushed Against Salford Cobblestones” at Cvlt Nation HERE.
Cold Fell Links:
http://www.facebook.com/coldfellmanchester
http://coldfell.bandcamp.com
COLDFELLS
I learned a long time ago that when Bindrune Recordings puts out an album, I need to pay close attention. And the latest announcement from Bindrune and its sibling Eihwaz Recordings is the self-titled debut album of this band from the Ohio Valley.
The Coldfells line-up includes guitarist Jonny Doyle from Horse Drawn and Plagueweilder (and a former live member of Abigail Williams), as well as Nechochwen bandmates Aaron Carey (vocals, guitar) and Andrew D’Cagna (bass, drums, backing vocals). And if that’s not enough to peak your interest, there may be no hope for you.
The single you can listen to below, which was released on February 16, is “The Sea Inside”. I have a different kind of lust for this song than I do for the one with which I began this post, but it’s no less intense. The introductory moments are somber and entrancing. I could have been happy with ten more minutes of that… but the surge that soon comes is very fine too.
However, that surge of galloping is only the second of multiple varying facets in the song, which moves like a hand-crafted black gem that turns before your eyes in a phosphorescent light. The music always gleams, but it pulls your mind in different directions. It slows, with a melody that flows like a twisting river or a climbing python, and the clean vocals (by D’Cagna) get their fix in your head. And then the music slows even further, drifting like a mist over barren plains and through looming stands of frigid black timber in the moonlight.
As the song moves between vibrant firebursts and sinuous, fluid flows, it becomes more and more entrancing. It’s one of those songs that seems perfectly shaped just as it is, but could easily go on for twice as long without losing the strength of the spell it casts.
The information I received about the album refers to “the true connecting fiber of this band — the aura of their Appalachian surroundings”, which “encapsulates the album’s sonic purpose: “…to see the winter Appalachian landscapes we grew up around … the dead trees, grey skies, run-down mill towns … but, besides everything being desolate… that it’s still beautiful.” I think you’ll feel that when you hear the music.
Coldfells will be released on April 1. I haven’t seen a pre-order link yet, but I’ll add it here when I do.
https://www.facebook.com/coldfellsdoom/
https://coldfellsdoom.bandcamp.com/album/the-sea-inside-single