Crematory

Believe (Nuclear Blast)
by Martin Popoff

Constant in their quest, despite shifting personnel and roles in the band over the years, Crematory make only subtle adjustments on this, their eighth album. Touring for ’99’s Act Seven was a bit of a bust, even if the album was their bestseller to date. This somewhat ignored act are back with a tight, taught, grinding record of tuneful Gothic metal, oddly within a style that is becoming discernible as Germanic, what with Night In Gales eliciting similar emotions through a similar kitchen sink approach to production. Believe is mostly rabble-rousing chording along the lines of the new slimmed-down Dark Tranquillity, iced with sometimes useful, sometimes inconsequential keyboard bits, mostly driven by traditional death vocals. But the grooves are large, the guitars pounding each track home, resulting in a critical mass that bodes well for the stage.
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