Artist: Painted Black
Title: Cold Comfort
Genre: Metal / Ambient
Release Date: 1st September 2011
Label: Ethereal Sound Works
Album Review
PAINTED BLACK hailing from Portugal was formed back in 2001 but they waited about 9 years till the release of their debut album, ‘Cold Comfort’, which is now released in Europe as well. Their self description is that they are a “Metal / Ambient” band akin to MY DYING BRIDE, SWALLOW THE SUN and MOONSPELL. And in a way they are right.
But the most important thing is that they are wrong as well. Truly, as far it concerns the Metal aspect of their music you’d be more accurate to describe it as Melodic Death Metal. The Ambient one as a Gothic Ambient and in their combination you can see why the band is right by naming these influences. Melodic parts combined with hard hitting riffs create the soundscape of their music. Yet from another point of view their music is something close to Black Metal Fado if I can name it this way. They have incorporated the aspects of mourning, of fate and of nostalgia that are dominant in the Portuguese traditional music and they have enriched it with the Black Metal. ‘Via Dolorosa’ is one of the best songs in this album, melodic, bitter and indicative of the band members’ craft to create atmosphere at will that lingers between Progressive, Black Metal and Gothic Rock.
The vocalist, Daniel Lucas is in absolute control of the emotions expressed through his voice which was quite a task for the ideas expressed in this album. ‘The End Of Tides’ has this melancholia tone without falling to the pits of melodrama and of cheesiness. The homonymous ‘Cold Comfort’ has this aggressive tone which at the same time is cultivated as well. The last track, the ‘Inevitability’ is grand, balances superbly between aggressions, pains and losses in an almost bigger-than-life track. This debut album was striking. It left me wondering what the band might achieve in the future. I know bands that they’d give their left nut for an album like that. And there are others who would give their right one as well.
Tracklist
01. Via Dolorosa – 9:18
02. Shadowbound – 5:10
03. The End Of Tides – 7:28
04. Absent Heart – 4:58
05. Cold Comfort – 8:30
06. Winter – 4:16
07. The Rain In June – 7:27
08. Inevitability – 10:26
Line-up
Daniel Lucas – Vocals
Luís Fazendeiro – Guitar
Miguel Matos – Guitar
Rui Matos – Drums
Bruno Aleixo – Keyboards
António Durães – Bass
Websites
http://www.painted-black.org
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 9
Total: 8.5 / 10
Comments powered by CComment