Cold Crypt/Utter Contempt For Life/Senseless Life Records/2014 CD Review

  Cold  Crypt  are  a  1  man  band  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  ambient  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2014  album  "Utter  Contempt  For  Life"  which  was  released  by  Senseless  Life  Records.

  A  very  dark  and  atmospheric  ambient  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  sounds  of  a  newborn  child  and  after  a  minute  spoken  word  samples  which  are  also  used  regularly  throughout  the  recording  are  added  into  the  music  before  the  album  starts  getting  a  lot  more  heavier  and  brings  in  a  raw  black  metal  sound  that  also  uses  grim  suicidal  screams  and  blast  beats.

  There  is  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  present  throughout  the  recording  and  the  ambient  sounds  are  also  mix  in  with  the  heavier  black  metal  parts  and  a  good  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length,  some  of  the  tracks  bring  in  some  industrial  style  noises  and  mix  in  with  some  of  the  rawest  black  metal  that  there  is  in  existence.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  add  a  good  amount  of  talent  and  skill  to  the  tracks  they  are  utilized  on  and  a  good  amount  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  depressive  sounding  melodies  at  times  and  as  the  album  progresses  more  power  electronic  and  underground  electronic  elements  are  brought  onto  the  recording  which  also  leads  to  the  album  getting  more  avant  garde  and  experimental  while  the  music  also  keeps  it's  black  metal  roots  and  brings  in  even  more  demonic  growls.

  Cold  Crypt  keeps  the  atmospheric  and  depressive  ambient  black  metal  sound  while  also  being  more  experimental  this  time  around,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  raw  while  th e lyrics  cover  hate,  madness,  suicide  and  murder.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Cold  Crypt  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  the  depressive,  ambient  and  experimental  black  metal  genres,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Born  To  Abhor"  "Purest  Negative  Thoughts"  "Ugly  Passion"  and  "Farewell  TO  Innocence".  8  out  of  10.      

Cold Crypt Interview

1. For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?

1. Cold Crypt is a one man metal project that concentrates more on the atmospheric side of black metal rather than the fast paced-hail Satan side, its much more industrial now then it was in the beginning and in my opinion far more haunting.

2.How would you describe the musical sound that has been present on all of the recordings that you have put out so far?

2. Each release has been quite unique in its own way really, the first release (Devil May Scream) was a very standard style of black metal and the following album (Darkest Symphonies) kind of expanded on that with more synth and vocal experimenting.

the split album and the latest release (Bearing The Light) are the best of what the project has to offer so far, it would be a waste of time trying to describe it, you'll just have to listen to it and find out for yourself.

3.Can you tell us a little bit more about the lyrical content of the music?

3. The lyrics have always been about madness, negative emotions and exposing faith in a heaven as a fairytale fantasy, Bearing The Light is a concept album meant to remind people of the witch hunts in religious history and hopefully shed light on the madness of the church.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name Cold Crypt?

4. Actually in the beginning the project was called Cold Veins, I just wanted a name that no one else had used and was able to reflect the feel of the music, but one day I was stuck in traffic next to one of the many old graveyards near my home and by just staring out the window at all those graves the name Cold Crypt entered my mind, it sounded so much more morbid and chilling then the original name so I changed it.

5.With this musical project you work all solo, do you have this gives you more room to be creative?

5. To be honest I just hate relying on other people for things, they would just slow me down and try to change the music in a way that seems shitty and over used by others, that's why I use a drum machine half of the time because I don't want to have any one else in on this project. Half of the songs in Cold Crypt have real drums played by me and the other half programmed drums.

6.A few  months back you put out a split album with Smorg, what are your thoughts on the other musical project that that was involved?

6. Smorg is a great band, it has punk, grindcore and black metal all rolled into one. The style has become a lot more like grindcore these days and in my opinion the quality of the music is improving with each release, some people seem to pick holes in the crusted rehearsal like quality of the recording they do but I think that just makes them sound more old school so hopefully they wont change that.

7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?

7. So far the response has been pretty positive actually as far as I can tell there has been only had one bad review at this time so that's good enough for me.

8.What is going on with your other musical project these days?

8. Marahkain has got a lot in the pipeline, we have a split album, a single and a full length album all lined up, we are also preparing to try a new sound but its just trying to find time to do it that's the problem, I'm always busy and so is Khalvst Ov Mhurn.

9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

9. Well I'm currently working on a new and more mechanized album called Utter Contempt For Life which will hopefully be released late 2014, the album artwork has unfortunately already leaked on to the fucking internet so its there for anyone who's interested.

10.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

10. The bands that influence me the most are Fear Factory, Xasthur, The Berzerker, Nosvrolok, Leviathan and Striborg. The album that actually pushed me to try and make my own music was Leviathans Tentacles of Whorror. Right now I'm listening to Lunar Auroras album Hoagascht.

11.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

11. well I've recently become a father so that takes up most of my time but whenever its not family or music I just play video games.

12.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

12. yeah if you like a band then buy a CD, don't be a prick and go looking for torrents.

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Cold Crypt/Bearing The Light/Cimmerian Shade Recordings/2013 CD Review

  Cold  Crypt  are  a  1  man  band  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays  a  form  of  black  metal  mixed  with  dark  ambient  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2013  album  "Bearing  The  Light"  which  was  released  by Cimmerian  Shade  Recordings.

  "Astral  Death"  which  is  also  the  first  song  on  the  album  opens  up  with  avant  garde  dark  ambient  sounds  along  with  some  synths  and  a  few  seconds  later  programmed  drum  beats  and  spoken  word  parts  are  added  into the  music  which  also  leads  up  to  some  black  metal  being thrown  into  the  music  and  going  into  a  heavy,  raw  and  primitive  direction  as  well  as  bringing  in  high  pitched screams  which  also  leads  to  the  music  alternating  between  slow  and  fast  parts  and  then  returning  back  to  a  more  ambient  direction while  also  still  mixing  in  the  black  metal  elements.

  "Seeking  the  Red"  begins  with  some  fast,  raw  and  primitive  black  metal  guitar  riffs  along  with  some  drum  programming  and  grim  screams  as  well  as  slowing  down  for  a  few  seconds  before  returning  to  a  faster  direction.

  "44"  opens  up  with  ambient  noise  sounds  which  leads  to  some  avant  garde  synths  shortly  after  that  as  well  as  some  drones  and  the  music  is  all  instrumental  and  there  are  no  vocals  or  guitars  present  on  the  song.

  "Slaughtered  By  Gender"  starts  up  with  dark  ambient  drones  and  a  few  seconds  later  spoken  word  samples  are  added  into  the  music  before  adding  in  some  fast,  atmospheric  black  metal  guitar  riffs  along  with  programmed  drums  and  grim s creams  as  well as  alternating  between  slow  and  fast  parts  and  after  awhile  ambient  gets  mixed  in  with  black  metal.

  "Her  Plague  Is  Man"  kicks  in  with  clean  singing  female  vocals  that  turn  into  cries  and  screams  as  well  as  bringing  in  fast,  raw  and  primitive  sounding  black  metal  guitar  riffs  as  well  as  some  drum  programming  as  well  as  some  deep  demonic  growls  and  then  the  music  slows  down  and  adds  in  dark  ambient  synths  as  well  as  alternating  between  fast  and  slow  parts  and  as  time  goes  on  by  there  are  some  noise  sounds  as  well  as  the  female  vocals  returning.

  "Fractured  Fears"  comes  in  with  dark  ambient  drones  which  also  have  elements  of  harsh  noise  along  with  synths  and  guitar  amp  sounds  and  a  few  seconds  alter  high  pitched  black  metal  and  noise  screams  are  added  into  the  music.and  as  time  goes  on  by  you  can  hear  spoken  word  samples  being  utilized  in  the  background.

  "Something  Empty"  breaks  in  with  spoken  word  samples  and  a  few  seconds  later  synths  kick  in  as  well  as  some  heavy  guitar riffs  that  mix  in  with  demonic  growls  and  black  metal  screams  and  the  song  closes  with  spoken  word  samples.

  "Madness  Through  The  Fire"  hits  it  off  with  harsh  noise  sounds  and  loops  and  a  few  seconds  atmospheric  black  metal  guitar  riffs  and  depressive  screams  are  added  into  the  music  along  with  small  amounts  of  synths  and  the  song  closes  with  some  power  electronics.

  "Bearing  The  Light"  which  is  the  last  song  on  the  album  as  well  as  title  track  begins  with  dark  ambient  sounds  along  with  some  synths  a  few seconds  later  as  well  as  elements  of  noise  and  loops  shortly  after  that.

  Song  lyrics  cover  dark,  occult  and  depressive  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  dark,  raw  and  primitive  sound  to  it.

  In  my  opinion  Cold  Crypt  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black  metal,  dark  ambient  and  noise  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  project.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Astral  Death"  "Slaughtered  By  Gender"  and  ''Madness  Through  The  Fire".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.  

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