Chelsea Wolfe
Abyss

The abyss is only the final destination, before that there is a tortuous and steep path to undertake. Indeed, more than steep, it seems to be a journey with Dantean connotations, where one sinks into the deepest darkness, where demons and fears reside. One lets oneself fall into a state of stasis and alarming equilibrium. These are the premises with which to face "Abyss" by Chelsea Wolfe, a singer-songwriter who now draws with disarming simplicity traits of her ever-changing personality in an artistic path devoid of true artistic coordinates. There's always a chameleon-like streak that takes over her songwriting and rest assured, between this and "Pain Is Beauty", without referencing previous works, there are the right distances and differences. A constant evolution that knows no bounds. The good Chelsea explores Jung, states of consciousness and sleep, but what emerges is a spectral fresco of her music. A fall that gently cradles into dark landscapes and seems to never want to end, overshadowing every ray of light.

The sensation of ethereal beats like a hammer thanks to the whispered and soft cadence with which Chelsea expresses her personality. A quiet proceeding that blends with a sinuous and fascinating ability to dictate the rhythm and tone of each composition with vigorous power. In "Abyss" you will never find paper, charcoal, and photocopies, it's like diving each time into a new scenario to explore. It generates itself as a new track's chimes begin, revealing piece by piece Chelsea's melancholic soul. This doesn't mean facing a linearity made of sinister atmospheres, but rather a continuous discovery of new traits, new influences, new turns. First, the granitic and rocky guitars with a martial proceeding like industrial/doom catapult us into the oblivion, to then delicately accompany us along synths whose pulse, oxymoronically, sounds icy, yet grants an emotional warmth to the skeleton of "Abyss". The electronics flows into arpeggios of an apocalyptic folk and surrenders in Chelsea's magnetically enveloping singing. A full length nourished by pathos where every mosaic piece fits perfectly. There is quality in the arrangements, always ready to ride the insecurities of minimal beats. Take "Simple Death" that remains there, closed in its essential form yet tremendously effective. This is just a small example, because from when the drones and the imminent danger atmospheres of "Carrion Flowers" erupt, from Chelsea's chest unfolds all the visceral quality her music possesses.

"Abyss" embraces in its majestic decadence pushing Chelsea into musically heavy territories as never before. The sense of urgency presses, and surreal chaos slowly drags into bottomless chasms, into the remote recesses of memories and parallel realities. While the fall occurs, there are nostalgic strings and violins gleaming in front of eyes that are now abandoned in the deep weave of a dream. Chelsea leaves one numb, in the positive sense of the term. It's like being entrapped in her grip. A morphine that gradually reaches its peak at the end of a dissonant piano, with strings that are pulled increasingly, tearing into the darkest recesses that Wolfe's mind births. Distant echoes resound, surviving is motivated by sudden cinematic-sounding sonic shocks. An electricity with a noise flavor that dirties and contrasts with the sensation of eternal disorientation due to sepulchral glimpses. Chelsea Wolfe is like that. Mysterious and reserved, not of many words, but when she decides to wield the six-string rather than shutting herself in a recording studio she can deliver high moments of songwriting, carving out an entity all her own, unparalleled in the current scene. Distinguishable in the first second and ensnares like a spider with its web. The weaving of "Abyss" is one of those that is hard to forget, in fact, one stops to admire the final achievement because certain of being in front of a masterpiece.