IN A COLD EMBRACE

When I read the words Post Rock/Math Rock, it's normally my cue to avoid that album, but in this case I received a message from the guys from BATTLESTATIONS and after checking the positive reviews by people who share my taste, answered them and accepted the album and offered an honest review and rating (from 1 to 5 stars as usual), but incredibly, I enjoyed the dark acoustic atmospheres created by this Belgian guys who refuse to give their real names.

I love a band that can transmit strong feelings, so the claustrophobic and full of desperation opener Prologue : Nature Morte // You're not Welcome Were,captured me from the first second. Somebody described the song as "a long introduction for a song that never happens ", I agree with him, but that's precisely the reason why I enjoyed it so much, being that suspense uis the key element of a good album, it's easy to make a dark intro and explode in a burst of sounds to make everybody happy, but this guys have enough talent to prepare the listener for something that never occurs, but still keep the interest of the audience, being that the performances (specially the acoustic guitar) are incredibly beautiful. A great start for a great album.

If the first track was very soft and oriented towards Ambient, Comrade // The Way We Grieve is much more aggressive, with a strong and constant percussion and bass and a subtle guitar work plus mysterious choirs is delightful. The constant dissonance enriches the musical experience. As the track advances it goes in crescendo somehow reminiscent of Tubular Bells but never explodes, it's like a controlled and addictive chaos, simply brilliant.

Interlude : Time Stands Still is a really weird track, with a haunting organ and the engineer playing with the volume, I was at the edge of the seat all along the track with a creepy feeling of being trapped in the middle of nowhere.

Breaking Bad News // The Faces We Remember is like a very long introduction where the band experiments with cadences, and explores the possibilities that the different instruments provide them, the Mellotron choirs are extremely haunting and frightening, spectacular, specially when blending some soft jazzy elements.

The guys of BATTLESATION kept the best for the grand finale, The Semblance of Fate // Epilogue : Citizen Creep // The End is amazing and has everything a Prog fans loves, from melodic piano sections to obscure creepy passages and a couple experimental moments with strange sounds a short heavy rocking instant and a lot of drama?Pay special attention to the drumming and the acoustic guitar, both are out of this world.

Until today I haven't reviewed a single Post Rock/Math Rock album, simply because I don't care for the style, but In a Cold Embrace has impressed me, to the point that I'll rate my first album of this sub-genre with four solid stars that should be 4.5 if the system allowed it.

Almost forgot to mention the booklet, which is extremely beautiful and melancholic, the sepia pictures hava some kind of magic that compares with nothing.