Crematory - Infinity
Massacre Records
Modern/Industrial/Gothic Metal
10 songs (46:21)
Release year: 2010
Crematory, Massacre Records
Reviewed by Thomas

I'm not exactly familiar with German industrial gothers Crematory but they're looked upon as pioneers in the German gothic metal scene, and stirred up a lot of dust in the wake of Paradise Lost back in the early nineties. Having gone through the motions over the years, dipping into various sub-genres and styles, they're seemingly settling with the gothic/industrial sound that resembles an odd combination of Rammstein and the Finnish Entwine before they went to shit. So to say, I had very low expectations for this and fiddled with the thought off passing it along to one of my colleagues, but decided to give it a fair shot, and although I'm a little torn on my stance towards Infinity, I can definitely say that I don't regret it. What I thought would be mechanic, chunky, boring and lifeless music coupled with monotonous vocals and predictable chronology, turned out to be quite the opposite as the guys include aspects from both doom, death and a bunch of lively clean vocal work that colours this far brighter than the black and white I thought it would be trapped in between.

The title-track kicks off the album with modern sounding, chugging riffs, melodic verses torn apart by deep, rumbling roars. The certain Rammstein-vibe vanishes with the mighty and majestic chorus carried by nice clean vocal work. This constant shape-shifting is crucial to a band and an album that I imagine would have a much drier sound, and come off as incredibly boring and bland had the variation not been part of it. Some songs, like No One Knows and Never Look Back lacks the spark that is created elsewhere and leaves an incredibly frustrating and bitter taste in my mouth. Both are songs that surely will be enjoyed by Rammstein-fans, which I, to put it delicately, am not. Back on the positive side, songs like the thrilling and exciting yet dark and gloomy, almost melodeath-like Sense of Time the Depeche Mode(!) cover, Black Celebration and the closer Auf Der Flucht, brings much joy and excitement as well as much appreciated catchy melodies spread all over. So there, an album with the potential to be extremely monotonous and well, like most industrial metal I've heard, extremely boring and not at all rewarding and valuable turned right around and spat in my face. I deserve that sometimes. Anyway, I believe this has much to do with the goth-influence, the great yet simple melodies, and the fearless attempts on including elements from well, pop.

Bottom line is that Crematory a band that has been around for 20 years have created an album full of contrasts, with violent growls coupled with kind clean vocals, brutal deadly blows like Where Are You Now?, and dark, goth-ridden and emotional tunes like Boken Halo. Proper use of both keyboards and samples woven into the sound-frame, never feeling out of place provides a rather unusual element to this kind of music, which instantly makes this much more interesting. However, first and foremost, the highlight for me on a personal level and objectively speaking has to be the extraordinary clean vocals and the sometimes stunning melodies the guy creates with his forceful voice. Attention is grabbed and seemingly never let go as it will urge you to spin a bunch of songs here again and again. This took me completely off-guard, and despite some uninteresting tunes, Infinity is up there among the coolest stuff I've heard so far this year. Recommended.

Killing Songs :
Infinity, Sense of Time, Black Celebration, Where Are You Now?, Auf Der Flucht
Thomas quoted 83 / 100
Other albums by Crematory that we have reviewed:
Crematory - Revolution reviewed by Danny and quoted 70 / 100
Crematory - Believe reviewed by Danny and quoted 80 / 100
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