Black Metal History Month: Carach Angren's "This is No Fairy Tale"

They are taking a darker more modern take on the fairy tales with junkies and whores in the leading roles. This is done with flare similar to Dimmu, just more progressive and symphonic in different ways. This formula works better on some songs than others. At times it defaults into some more like Cradle of Filth, though the mid range rasp of the vocals might be monotone , but they are less annoying than Dani Filth's. Some times this snarl bobs around the riffs in a way that reminds me of mid-period Carcass.These guys are tight as a coffin nailed shut. The lyrics are discernible and actually one of the albums strong points, which is a rarity in this genre. Some of the string sections are just as lavish as anything Night Wish might do , but have enough snarl to them that off sets this.

"Two flies Caught in a Black Sugar Cob Web" is a tale of Hansel and Gretyl whose, mother commits suicide and "the dark becomes thicker , thicker, thicker...". Clean vocals are used sparsely. They are pretty effective when they do float into the songs. When they singer goes into a more spoken narrative the song begins to feel like something off a King Diamond album. This gets even more dramatic as it progresses with the Hansel and Gretyl story. The strings begin to slowly play a more predominate role, set against the harsh vocals. The timing becomes a jagged waltz. They hammer themselves back into a heavier place with "Possessed By a Craft of Witchery". His drummer's double bass is seriously sick and he handles these time changes very gracefully. The piano sections trickles lightly between the thundering drums. At times this is Emperor influenced as well, but the Carcass influence me the most. The vocals become more versatile, dipping down into some lower growls.Some of these riffs which are the most killer often are just popped into the song for a few phrases rather than being milked for their head banging potential.

They continue to throttle in the midst of this unravelling yarn. "Killed and Served by the Devil" has the double bass rolling like a tank and the guitar tightly chugged within it's thunder.  You know how this is going to end and they don't stray with the second to the last song being"the Witched Perished in Flames" which has a very Dimmu like crunch.They go out on a more Cradle of Filth like note with "Tragedy ever after". The vocal patterns have a much more angular cadence that any thing Dani Filth would do. This album is a lot of fun it sounds great and these guys had their thinking caps on as well as their corpse paint when they made this. The slick Cradle / Dimmu element with all of it's respective pretense will turn off those you only listen to Darkthrone on vinyl.I'll give it a 9 and see how it stands the test of time this year.