When you realize that Violet Cold has released a dozen albums since 2015, you definitely start to believe the biography that states that, and I quote: “Violet Cold is an experimental AI simulated music project from 40°22’37.7”N 49°50’51.6”E”, and that’s without counting the instrumental versions, the EPs, splits and standalone singles released along the way. A couple of days ago, on January 31, the project released yet another EP out of the blue, called “Səni Uzaq Kainatlarda Axtarıram” – Just like that!
For real though – The creative output of this project is massive. As far as I know, however, the person behind this project is called Emin Guliyev, and judging by the coordinates, it is based in Baku, Azerbaijan, a conclusion further cemented by the fact that the title is in Azerbaijani, and roughly translates to “I’m Looking for You in the Distant Universes”. To be honest, I can’t think of a better name for it. It somehow perfectly encapsulates the sound, feel, and mood of this release.
With this new EP, I definitely feel like he’s fine-tuned one of this many successful formulas. This intricate fusion of blackgaze with trance hits just right. The soundscape is massive, to say the least, but at the same time incredibly light, like a hollow sphere the size of the Moon just traversing the universe, possibly to find the titular person of this release. It also shows that it’s possible to add significant elements of black metal without making it either oppressive or abrasive, with harsh vocals carefully interwoven into the whole, without sounding like it has been relegated to the back of the mix to make it more palatable. Never out of place, much like the blast beats laced into these tracks, with truly gargantuan synthesized shoegaze melodies accelerating them forwards.
I generally don’t like the term “avant-garde”. It’s often used for music I personally find utterly pretentious and without some actual substance, especially when it comes to metal. What I imagine the term should mean is the shape of music to come. Cutting-edge music, like what concept cars looks like. A glimpse into the future, or of a future. With this interpretation in mind, Violet Cold is most definitely avant-garde. It shouldn’t be possible to mix genres like black metal, trance, shoegaze, rave and hip-hop, let alone make it sound this good, yet here we are. The level of consistency is also mind-blowing, being able to keep this pace up and producing banger after banger, with “Empire of Love” (2021), “Anomie” (2017), “kOsmik” (2019) and “Noir Kid” (2020), to name a few.
Time and time again, Violet Cold shows us what is actually possible with music, even when blending the seemingly impossible, and Səni Uzaq Kainatlarda Axtarıram isn’t an exception. Beautifully composed anthems that are equally uplifting as they are cutting-edge. This is truly the future of music. My only complaint, really, is that I want to ride this uplifting high indefinitely, but we only get roughly 28 minutes of it.
