Violet Cold´s releases always come unexpectedly with almost no forewarning. And as always the music transfixes you with its beauty immersed among the harsh vocals and the translucent guitars.
Reviewers and listeners worldwide scratch their heads to try to pigeonhole Violet Cold´s music down to a genre. That is impossible, just look at Metal Archives which shows you a list of 14 genres Violet Cold fuses together, and that is not all. The music is clearly based on Black Metal and Blackgaze but is way more than that. Maybe Violet Cold´s own labeling is the most accurate: ‘Euphoric Black Metal’. Because of the care of the details, the melodic themes, the transitions, the musical groundswells, the traditional instruments in the layers, and the female vocalizing - everything leaves the listener elated and close to ecstatic.
We also have the astonishing beauty that emanates from the videos that come with some of the songs. It might be AI-simulated music and videos as Violet Cold states in the band´s SoMes. But there is a real determined artist behind this project. I somewhat doubt that Emin Guliyev turns on his computers in his home in Baku, Azerbaijan, takes a walk, comes back and releases the music. Musings aside, let us look a bit at what the 40 minutes of newly released music bring. It is after all the 14th full-length and in the wake of another 6 EPs and 42 singles since 2013.
Already in the opening song ”Multiverse” we are overwhelmed by the duality that runs through this music. The distorted guitars, blasting drums, and harsh vocals contrasted by soaring melodic synths and the soft strokes on a keyboard - just like sweet droplets of light falling on slow-flowing dark glimmering lead. Throughout the music, the translucent distorted guitars have an air of patina that glazes the many subtle and sometimes ethereal synths swirling around the music inducing colors and melody, harsh vocals immersed in it and a steadfast rhythm at the bottom. You are captured by all this beauty at once, even the harsh growls are beautifully immersed in the layers.
Many will know ”Shazam The Void (Extended Version)” that was released a year ago together with a video so beautiful and colorful that you have it on your retina for a long time after you have seen it together with the smiling face of the young woman. The song opens with synths where the soft drops from the keys find a melodic theme to explore. It turns into an electronic part to get you transfixed on the stumbling rhythms before the music is lifted up into a crescendo of layers of fast-paced beautifully orchestrated music where the harsh vocals sometimes meet female vocals deep in the mix. A darkened melodic theme takes form to carry the music while the soft keystrokes increase in pace to follow the melody. A flute rises in the middle of all the other elements playing a melodic theme and is then again overtaken by a woman’s wonderful longing vocalizing.
Violet Cold´s music is sometimes described as astral. And you get more than a whiff of that on ”Stardust”. This song also has a complementary astonishing video in black and white. The song opens with blackgazed music and harsh vocals before the synths take over. In this song, we are treated with the wonderful juxtaposition of folk instruments blending in and following the engaging melody. It simmers down with only drums, droplets of synths, wide sonics, and wonderful female vocals as the sound ebbs and flows. The drums make ready for a surge to find the melody from the song’s beginning to float further with vocals shifting between harsh and female vocals. Together with the video, the song seems made to describe a line from the Joni Mitchell song ”Woodstock”: “ We are stardust / Billion year old carbon / We are golden”
The folk, or tribal, instruments take the lead as they open the song ”Calliope”. After deep bass and distorted guitar parts, a melodic swell from the synths widens the scope and raises the beauty of the basic melody. There is a breather with short drops from said synths that fall as beads in search of a chord to take up the song´s pace again. On the horizon there is the sound of a flute before it all comes together with the traditional folk instruments in the middle contrasting the blast beats as a string instrument takes the lead repeating the melodic theme until it fades away.
On this album, there is even a song titled ”Gentle Soothing Affection”. This is in fact one way to describe the whole catalogue of Violet Cold´s music. And it surely is a way to describe the exquisite female vocals that appear on many of the songs. Sometimes these are so beautifully executed it might make you shed a tear. This song is heavier than the others after a foreboding opening. But soft keys and the female voice grace the music in between the heaviness. There is even a well-placed wah-wah-induced high-pitched guitar solo in the mix.
”Love Designer” is a gentle way to end the album without guitar, but with synths sprinkling melodic beads over widening sounds while folk instruments are immersed in the myriad mix. In the absence of the distorted guitar, the synths, piano and flute fuse together in a long crescendo to close the album.
