Style: symphonic black metal
Thoughts: Carach Angren. Master story tellers. Weavers of dark fantasy. Those who would wield horror to an astonishing effect.
There are many things that Carach Angren are, but subtle is not one of them. They excel at over the top bombastic black metal. The kind that tells a story and sucks me in with every song. They tend to have a massive amount of riffs in their songs and hardly ever use a a verse/chorus writing style. Everything is written for the sake of the story, and with that comes a linear song strucutre.
When these guys are good, they are one of the best in the business. Songs like Charlie and Songs for the Dead show the band at their best: mysterious, ghostly, bombastic, aggressive, and above all the weave a narrative with the music and lyrics. There is so much going on in these songs that it mirrors a symphony with it's twists and turns.
Unfortunately, the band doesn't always hit with their songs on this album. Many of them, especially on the second half show a lack of focus that is unusual for these guys. In the earlier albums they know exactly what they want to do at every single moment... here though they just seem lost from time to time. It's very confusing.
The other issue I have with the album is a physical one... why on earth was this split into 2LP's? The album is 40 minutes long and does not require two LP's. If this was done for maximum fidelity or something similar that's fine, but honestly this is not the kind of music I listen to for an audiophile experience - nor does the pressing quality reflect that.
Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten is an odd album for me. There are moments of pure brilliance, and there are moments where it seems like the band is coming loose at the seams. Their stories are still great, but the music doesn't always keep pace on here. Damn shame.
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