Review Summary: "A depressive study of the nature of light."
On their Myspace, Cold Body Radiation describes their debut as a "depressive study of the nature of light," and never before has there been a more accurate description of any band's music. True to black metal's character, this album is not a lighthearted one: it has the shrieks, it has the frantic drumming, and it has heavy, oft-dark tone of any given black metal album. It is depressive, and it is black metal through and through. But, as the band states, this record involves light just as much as it does darkness and depression. And it's not just light: it's peacefulness. The band's prominent use of ambient backdrops to the aggressive black metal sections bring about one of the most perfect, beautiful dichotomies of light and dark ever found in a metal album, and sometimes make Cold Body Radiation's sound more reminiscent of post-rock acts such as Explosions in the Sky or Sigur Ros more than it is of any typical European black metal.
The album is at its best when it completely and utterly throws away any pretensions and standards set by black metal bands before it. As a whole, it is different, but "blackgaze" remains a style that has been done before (whether is has been done to CBR's level of success is another question entirely), so for the truly exceptional we must look to just a few select tracks. One of these such groundbreakers is 3rd track
White Light. This is a track where the album transcends the realms of blackgaze to become one of the most peaceful, beautiful black metal tracks ever written. In the way that it manages to convey both sadness and hope it can be described as a black metal version of Sigur Ros, minus the made-up language. Layers upon layers of ambiance are placed on top of a major-scale tremolo riff, with shrieking vocals pushed in the background enough to keep them from being the song's focal point but not so much as to erase their impact entirely. This is a track that you can put on repeat and just zone out to for hours upon end.
That's not to say that
White Light is the only track worthy of note on here: in all honesty, there isn't a single track that could be described as bad, and there are quite a few more album highlights to be found (namely the title track and
Nothing). The album
could use a bit more variation in style, at it takes a few listens to be able to successfully distinguish some tracks from one another, but don't let this deter you. This remains one of 2010's most inspiring post-black metal efforts, and is worth every penny (or every second of Rapidshare wait time). There aren't many acts in the world that can so exceptionally blend together light and darkness, and Cold Body Radiation has joined this elite with their awesome debut. We can only hope that there's more where this came from.
Album Highlights
White Light
Nothing
The Great White Emptiness
