Crematory – Oblivion

German gothic metal band Crematory release their latest studio album this April. It’s their 14th album in a 27 year career, and is the first studio album with the new lineup – before the last album clean-vocals singer Matthias Hechler left the band after 17 years in the role and was replaced by Tosse Basler on clean vocals and rhythm guitar, and they also brought in Rolf Munkes on lead guitar, and since the release of that album, they’ve got a new bassist, Jason Mathias.

The album starts with an orchestral piece of music as the intro, building up and then fading into the background as a spoken introduction starts.

The first song “Salvation” keeps that orchestral sound but throws in the guitars and bass giving a heavy but rich sound. The vocals are not quite clean but not quite growls – it’s probably best described as growling but where the lyrics are clear to hear (which isnt the case with a lot of growling vocalists). The female backing vocals contrast with the male lead vocals nicely.

With “Ghost of the past”, the orchestral sounds are gone but the keyboards add the necessary lightness to counter-balance the heavy guitar sound.

With “Until the dawn” the orchestral sound is back and there’s now good use of both clean and growling vocals which work well together. It’s a fantastic song.

With “Revenge is mine”, there’s a gentle piano melody which is suddenly replaced by the blast of the guitars

It’s a great album – there’s plenty of power from the guitars and bass, the growling and clean vocals are both well done and work well together and the album gives a great mix of the heavier and more melodic elements.

A great album – highly recommended.

“Oblivion” will be released on 13th April 2018

Track listing:

1. Expectation
2. Salvation
3. Ghost of the past
4. Until the dawn
5. Revenge is mine
6. Wrong side
7. Stay with me
8. For all of us
9. Immortal
10. Oblivion
11. Cemetary stillness
12. Blessed
13. Demon inside