|
Review:
|
The deuxieme CD from the French collective, fronted
by the floating voice of Christelle, is a real tough one
to categorise, they blur the boundaries between industrial,
gothic, darkwave, new wave, alt rock, symphonic and metal,
with songs based on the Greek legend of Prometheus and Pandora.
Try to imagine a Pandora’s Box of symphonic gothic bands
like Stream of Passion, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil,
with Rage Against The Machine, L'ame Immortelle industrial
and darkwave, Stone Roses brit pop, Muse and synth pop New
Order, while taking Athrodite for a bop around the dance
floor. The album is presented in two acts with an overture
and finale, rather like a theatrical opera, or the good
old days of vinyl (ask your granddad). The curtain rises
with the symphonic gothic and Muse overture, ‘Anger of the
Gods’, with Christelle in semi-operatic mode. Act 1 opens
with the marching and galloping symphonic metal and electronica
of ‘Temptation’, ‘Narthex’ is a rap metal dance floor filler,
with keys player Francoise’s shouts juxtaposed with Christelle’s
soft vocals, ‘Awake’ is a more conventional Lacuna Coil
type gothic number, ‘The Forge’ is strutting, stomping metal
and industrial (the start reminded me of ‘We Will Rock You!),
with Christelle’s whispered voice, and finally ‘Prometheus’
is a gentler darkwave and alt rock tune with an ethereal
choir, which then builds and soars.
"Time
for a quick cup of tea in the interval while I turn the
record over, and it’s onto Act 2."
Off we go again with ‘Pandora’, a disco industrial
and metal number with a touch of Stone Roses shoegazing
about Christelle’s singing, mixed with Lady Gaga, we then
tango into ‘Lord of Cinders’ in a Diablo Swing Orchestra
(Swedish avant garde) sort of way before it turns symphonic,
‘Choices’ has a blend of metal riffage, darkwave and a hint
of New Order synth pop, and finally ‘Hope’ is a brief, but
lovely, piano and electronica ballad. The finale ‘Mercy
of the Gods’ rounds things off with a flourish of symphonic
metal before the curtain falls. This is no Greek tragedy,
it may seem like an unlikely bunch of bedfellows, but in
the hands of C-Rom it becomes most natural thing in the
world. Great to listen to, great to dance to, great to headbang
to, you can’t say that about many CD’s. Available from their
Myspace site http://www.myspace.com/cromthewindingstar
This is highly recommended for, well, just about anyone
and everyone! 9 out of 10
|
