Crematory
Pray

A welcome return for Crematory, a band pioneers of gothic metal made in Germany celebrating their 10th full-length in 17 years of an honorable career with this "Pray".

The recent history of the band saw, after a voluntary hiatus from 2001 to 2003 and the split from Nuclear following the disappointing "Revolution," a renewed partnership with Massacre Records, under whose aegis they released the excellent "Klagebilder" two years ago, which also saw a return to the mother tongue already used in the eponymous full-length of '96.

On this occasion, however, the German five-piece returns to English vocals, simultaneously abandoning the industrial temptations that characterized the previous platter in favor of a sound more anchored to traditional gothic metal, following a path in some ways akin to that recently undertaken by Paradise Lost.

Right from the opening track "When Darkness Falls", it's possible to detect the elements that will constitute the platter: as usual, it's the contrast between Matthias' clean vocals and Felix's guttural singing that represents the true trademark of the band, while the rest of the band supports the vocal dualism by alternating delicate atmospheric melodies with a wall of sound of a gothic matrix.

A nice bass line and a melody a là Rammstein introduce the more distinctive "Left the ground", which, perhaps precisely due to its references to Till and company's brilliant band, emerges as one of the best moments of the record, thanks to an easily assimilated refrain that immediately sticks in your head and never leaves.

Less convincing is the following "Alone", a mid-tempo dominated by Felix's rough voice that, however, doesn't evoke the emotions it should and prompts us to press the skip button, also because the danceable "Pray" follows, not by chance chosen as the first single: in this case, the keyboards finally return to play a lead role, and the chorus is really well-crafted, giving us a track that would not have looked out of place within "Believe".

The next "Sleeping Solution" is also very pleasant, as its melancholic mood is perfectly interpreted by the two singers, while unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the sixth track "Just Words", which, almost as if wishing to close a sort of qualitative chiasm, sees the band engaged in experimenting with minimalist solutions (guitars are almost absent) that, however, don't leave a mark even after multiple listens.

Fortunately for us, with the subsequent "Burning Bridges" (some references to Arch Enemy?), the number of BPM increases significantly and, almost as if to compensate for the compositional poverty of the previous track, the five pour their soul into their instruments, offering us the best instrumental performance of the entire work at this juncture.

After the decent yet overall standard "Have you ever", the finale is a crescendo thanks to the good guitar interplays of "Remember" (close to the already mentioned Paradise Lost's latest "In Requiem") and the concluding "Say Goodbye", yet another piece with expansive atmospheres that this time manages to evoke the right emotions thanks especially to the different balancing between clean and growling vocals, now tilted towards the former.

All things considered, the new work by Crematory presents itself in some ways as a step back compared to the excellent predecessor (at least for those, like myself, who have always appreciated the band's more "flashy" side), but, despite an uneven tracklist, manages not to look out of place within a significant discography like that of the five Germans, positioning itself as a useful compendium for old and new fans of the band.