"Buried Silence"
[Napalm Records]
Melodic Industrial Darkwave is how Ice Ages are described. I don't really get much of this kind of thing to review but as soon as the large beats of "Intro" I knew I was probably going to dig this. "Buried Silence" really gets the festivities off and running with a slow and soulful ballad-like industrial track that winds upon it's mournful journey with grace but a hardened edge that keeps you guessing. Vocally it sound fragmented and distant, like singing through glass or ice and it adds a slightly haunting effect that increases the bands versitility. Ice Ages posess a really zaney quality that endears me to them instantly and all this is from the first track.
"Regret" is a gruelling track that takes the utmost concentration to get into with it's intense sound and hard melodies whilst "From Grey To.." is far more melodic and flowing at the start but again with the deep zaney twist that I like so much. Again though there is a really methodical feel to the bands sound, almost clinical and cold. "Icarus" is spontanious and sporadic in sound whilst "Through The Mirror" adds a military precision to the proceedings whilst also being very sorrowful in places and have a deeply flowing melody woven into the harsh beats
One thing that does dissapoint on this album is the lask of pace, it's all very slow and down to earth. Sadly this trend persists into "Essential Loss" and the rich harmonies that make up "Enemy Inside" which is by far the track of the album with its sense of drama that heightens as the songs winds further and further along. The penultimate track is "Tormented In Grace" which really encapsulates the essence of industrial with it's hollow sounding mechanical beats before sliding into the finale that is "Curse". "Curse" is zaney to the maximum, haunting and with a really great end of album feel to it, a superb sense of finality!
Ice Ages sound terrific although slightly lacking in energy. "Buried Silence" is a chilled and chilling release of which I'm glad to own and will i'm sure thrill many a listener.
4 Out Of 5
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