ColdCell – The Greater Evil

ColdCell is an Atmospheric Black Metal quintet hailing from Switzerland, close to the centre of Europe. The five musicians banded together as a band almost a decade ago, weaving interlocking stories and atmospheres around the prospects of the modern world and how said modernity is slowly poisoning or downright killing the human spirit. It is a grim concept, one that they have set about to explore for the fourth time on their newest Full-length release, The Greater Evil, set to be made publicly available later today.

On the technical side of things, The Greater Evil is a very polished album. The sound is very crisp, with each instrument as well as the vocal track being very cleanly recorded and mixed before being reassembled into the distorted, growling atmosphere one (or I, at least) increasingly has become to associate with current era existence – The lyrics to ”No Escape” being particularly prudent and heavy, given the current state of the world, only made more evident given the still-high riding pandemic across the world (even if the record as a whole more reads as a statement against the status quo of the world even prior to the last years experiences). But I better get back on track before I end up turning this into a somewhat political rant.

ColdCell as a band succeeds in drawing in their listeners with a decent soundscape, laden with atmosphere and anger (as one would expect) – They seem to do so effortlessly and well enough that I, like moth to a flame, was quickly drawn in. Where I find that the band truly shines, however, is in its social commentary, in its lyrical themes and poetic descriptions of a world not so much aflame, but slowly burning out, both spiritually and metaphorically – A point I feel comes across fantastically well in the track ”Greatest Of All Species” (which can also be found below), cleverly conveyed through the arrogance of the human race itself.

In short – Is the human race untouchable? ColdCell says no, and they make a point out of describing, in blatant detail, the price of such hubris. And I for one live for it.

The Greater Evil contains seven tracks in total, adding up to a total runtime of forty-nine minutes. Forty-nine minutes of Atmospheric Black Metal that I would personally recommend to any fans of early Blut Aus Nord and, to some extent, Batushka.

https://www.facebook.com/coldcellofficial