Autumn: a richly layered and solid sound world on an epic scale

Coldworld, Autumn, Germany, Cold Dimensions, CD DIMEN029 (2016)

Eight years have come and gone since one-man band ColdWorld recorded and released its first album “Melancholie²” and it’s only now in 2016 that ColdWorld maestro Georg Börner (hereafter GB) has overcome the dreaded second album syndrome and brought forth follow-up album “Autumn”. One could be forgiven for expecting little to have happened in the intervening period – eight years are plenty of time to have gone away and done something completely different, so much so that, simply in order to pick up where “Melancholie²” left off, a recapitulation of that album might be necessary – but “Autumn” is a different beast altogether. There is a warmer, more uplifting mood and the scale that the album operates on seems much larger, more epic and soaring.

As on the first album, GB strives for perfection in everything, right down to the smallest detail, and this along with his nose for a memorable pop-sounding tune when he smells one means that the music still suffers a bit from being too polished and needing more spontaneity and roughness around the edges. Listeners can still find a fair amount to like though, if not really relish. Apart from the craftsmanship and the attention to technical detail, there’s the layering of textures to create a rich sonic world of orchestral tremolo guitars that itself generates particular moods that listeners can readily identify with and into which they can allow themselves to be subsumed. And when GB does straight-out black metal, boy, is it ever sharp and vicious, like a prowling shark with a mouth full of needle-like choppers hunting down panicked seals. Even if the screaming isn’t quite as all-out berserk as I’d like it to be, it’s still very screechy.

However, even with a set of great sounds and an ear for what works as music, musicians still need ideas and original creative flair, and I’m not  sure that GB has enough originality to match his other considerable gifts. Opening track “Scars” is a good piece with plenty of raw BM / post-BM variety: a mix of raw BM and clean vocals, rapid-fire blast-beat drumming and juddering tremolo guitar fury against a wall of orchestral sound. The track following is more relaxed but seems less inspired and a fair bit of padding is starting to creep in. “Womb of Emptiness” floats in post-BM / blackgaze territory with a warm attractive sound before turning into a dark chilly song.

After a short interlude dominated by a mournful violin solo, “Climax of Sorrow” brings the listener back to cold sinister atmospheric BM with bite and a heavy grinding rhythm. This is an impressive, no-nonsense track big on deranged squealing anger that subsides into dreamy dark shoegaze reverie. Of all the tracks on this album, “Climax …” is a standout. “Nightfall” is good too although it is more repetitive.

I’d have preferred something more individual and adventurous even if hit-or-miss but listeners happy knowing what to expect and who want to revel in a richly layered world of epic music and moods will enjoy ColdWorld’s “Autumn”. This is a very solidly constructed album with every considered sound crafted well and put in its place.