Carach Angren : "The Cult of Kariba"

This band from the Netherlands is picking up where the golden years of Cradle of Filth left off. Carach Angren's symphony elements carry the blackened musicals that unfold in their manner of storytelling, which has been streamlined over the years from a more animated flair of dramatics into what unfolds on their new EP. The use of gothic piano parts and romantic strings weaves the fairy tales as they bring them to life in the studio. The drums hammer everything into place under the snarled narrative. Their vocals are not annoying like Dani Filth as he scowls more than shrieks, and his vocal lines have a defined purpose before the grandiose bakc drop of sound. 

The story is more pronounced in a King Diamond fashion on the second song. There is some harsher blasting driving this song that finds the balance between black metal and their brand of darkly theatrical metal. At times when the sung vocals are some of it, I am reminded of Emperor. "ik Kom..." carries a more brooding tribal take on the foreboding tale. It is not black metal, but falls into its own unique shadow-filled palace, as there are traditional folk elements, before the distorted guitars surface. 666

"Venomous 1666" hits with some pretty intense thrashing that is still dressed up to tell the tale at hand. It makes me think that a more Nordic version of these songs is very taunt and effective; they do not let all the special effects used to capture the feel of the subject matter distract them.I will give this album a 9, I appreciate the streamlined approach, but feel there is a great deal of personal quirks that got trimmed here that make these guys stand out from the pack on previous releases, but they are still ahead of what most black metal bands have done so far this year. This is being released on Season of Mist.  

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Carach Angren : "Frankensteina Strataemontanus"

I normally have to brace myself for the theatrical narrative of this band, but this album is about "Frankenstein" or at least monsters as the lyrics from the first song throws black cats and other ghoulds into the mix. The drums are a little thin and the vocals are way up front. Might just need head phones for this album. They stay at a pretty speedy pace, but while in the same sonic zip code as Cradle of Filth, I prefer what these guys do. The bounce to the title track gives a nice groove that I can get on board with. Not as heavy, but it is cool,There is also carnival like bounce to "the Necromancer'. They are like a more playful less proggy version of Sigh with how the strings sit on "Sewn for Solitude" . The sung vocals are even better than when they first appear. Not giving a hook , but introspective musing. Normally the vocals are an articulate snarl.

They get more death metal on "Operation Compass" . It gets more melodic as it progresses. "Monster" is more deliberatly paces almost likea death metal version of Tom Waits. "Der Vampir von Number" we have skipped over to Nazi scientists, so maybe it is the concept of re-animating that this album is about unless we are tying that into Frankenstein mythology , which the movie  "Frankenstein's Army' did. This song is more jarring in the fun house turns it takes. They return to the heaviness on "Skull With a Forked Tongue" . It is not in your face a hundred percent, but has a more aggressive death metal drive aside from how a few blast beats are used. We are not even going to talk about what happened with these guys being black metal as they crossed that bridge moons ago. The drumming is pretty impressive how he comes around the kit. Their synth player is also earning his pay, every one else does their job and serves the song , but do not take the spotlight.

"Like a Conscious Parasite Roam" could very well be a Dimmu Borgir song, as it indulges in symphonic bloat. It loses the flair that gives this band it's personality. While well done it could be one of a hundred symphonic metal bands. They regain their sense of self on "Fredrick's Explosion" that loses some of the song writing magic they had and feels like Stephen King dialing in an edngin just to finish. Overall this is one of their better albums so I will give it a 9. If you are a fan you will like it.

Carach Angren :"Dance And Laugh Amongst the Rotten"

I know being creepy is their thing. This album takes them more into the melodramatic style of metal that King Diamond has mastered and at this point they are less black metal than even Cradle of Filth. The songs have less bells and whistles. They are sharp and more focused. Though at times the narrative can make them lyrically unweildly. It's less of a concept album than the last one.There are just scary themes based of folk lore like Bloody Mary.Some of the symphonic elements are still in place, but over all I think this album has a more stripped down feel and seems like something I could more easily hear them playing live.  Some of the theatrics don't feel as natural as what King Diamond , does and even with the ole King, he has sometimes lost me on an album like" the Puppet aster" where the creepy narrative voice didn't sit we with me, On some songs it's more balanced out , actually their batting average in this regard is pretty good

Their drummer goes above and beyond to get job done. The songs might not have as many twist and turn this time, but they do get heavier in the way the songs modulate at times almost more like breakdowns. News flash on "Pitch Black Box" they prove you can still write metal songs that are only three minutes long and still have time to dress it up with theatrics. The bouncy groove the song would almost appeal to nu-metal hold outs though it doesn't bounce with any hip-hop aspirations,after all these guys are from the Netherlands. You might continue to sing the drummer's praises if you are a fan of double bass when you hear what he does "the Possession Process". On the past where he snarls "raped by evil" the jerky riff fits better than when they try to employ this sort of thing earlier in the album.

"Three times Thunder Strikes" has a more Dimmu feel. The riffing even uses the kind of tight chug they employ. It's almost to straightforward for these guys. Then the album closes with the orchestral version of "Charles Francis Coghlan" which for the purpose of this review and really most people who are not at a school like Berklee redundant. Overall I was a little more impressed with the previous album, I'll give this more streamlined version of the band an 8.5 as it is still quality and focused. If you want very middle of the road "black metal" that's easy to swallow then this might be a good entry way, but this album is more symphonic metal than black metal anyway.