Violet Cold : "Multiverse"

 

This  black gaze project encapsulates a great deal of what is appreciate about music here. This release finds a return to the more black metal side of the equation though with a great deal of the ambiance that colored the rainbows commonly springing from the storm clouds of sound normally gathering around the songs. There are plenty of blast beats that serve as a counter point to the more soaring sections. Things are keep in a fluffy accumulation of layered instruments rather than the more spacious post-rock sound that most projects labelled as black gaze tend to flirt with. For this reason there is less of the broad lonely stretches. 

"Shazam the Void' was the first single released from this album. It works off a sound more like what An Autumn For Crippled Children does as there is a moving wave of ambiance that the vocals scream over;. "Emocean" blends the black metal with the more fey like moods this project that a tendency to float over. To call it black gaze, means that it's shoe gazing when the under current leans more toward the pop side of dream pop. Yet with the furious din allowed to rage over it that aspect is a little more buried in the mix. It almost sound like if an anime soundtrack and a black metal album were being played at the same time from opposite ends of the room. "Stardust" floats out of the previous song with a uniformity in both the atmosphere and aggression it collide with. 

"Calliope" introduces a more interesting blend of newer sound that break things away from becoming a sonic slush pile. Things drift further out into the ether with an ambiance that could have come from a Grimes album going into "Ein Langer Weg" . It does build into the more metallic side of the dynamics, but takes time. I like the more melodic elements to this album. "Gentle Soothing Affection" has the most organic feel so far. The drums strike a very deliberate groove. The last song feels more like an outro. There is a more electronic influence to this album, which works to break things up and keeps the  familiar sounds from becoming stagnant. I will give this album a 9.