Three years after announcing their retirement, German
goth metal
institution
Crematory
changed tack and reformed, heading back into the studio and emerging a few months later with their eighth album (and tenth overall) in 2004's
Revolution
. A misleading title which longtime fans should not take at all literally,
effectively picks up the thread right where 2000's
Believe
left off, delivering a slew of astonishingly clean and economical tunes entirely devoid of
gothic rock
's oftentimes dragging, lumbering self-absorption. At the same time, unlike other gothic-minded
metal
bands (Swedes
Tiamat
and Brits
Anathema
coming straight to mind),
's approach to songwriting hasn't completely relegated their
roots to the past. Quite the contrary, as new offerings like
"Wake Up,"
first single
"Greed,"
and the title track retain the ragged-edged
riffing and death-styled cookie monster vocals of yore, even while welcoming plenty of cleanly sung, easy-to-remember choruses, widespread synth abuse, and relatively simple,
pop
song structures. Introduced by opening instrumental
"Resurrection,"
this at once simple and complex blueprint rarely wavers throughout -- unless the band is indulging their rather unique (if ever risky)
trip-hop
tendencies with the likes of
"Reign of Fear,"
"Tick Tack,"
and
"Red Sky."
Once again, not exactly revolutionary, but very contiguous with the
's prebreakup work. Along with the closing
ballad
-- the heart-achingly mournful
"Farewell Letter"
-- perhaps the biggest exception is the five-minute
"Angel of Fate,"
which actually allows itself the extra minute or two to stretch out and mine deeper, darker, nicely atmospheric
reminiscent of Gothenburg
stars
Dark Tranquility
. All in all,
is a solid, satisfying, if unsurprising, return to action for this well-established band. One does come away a little hungry for additional variety when everything's said and done, but that's no different from the band's earlier work. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia