{"id":17903,"date":"2014-01-02T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2014-01-02T00:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=17903"},"modified":"2014-03-06T11:30:32","modified_gmt":"2014-03-06T11:30:32","slug":"album-review-cimmerian-hollowing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-cimmerian-hollowing\/","title":{"rendered":"CIMMERIAN – Hollowing (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

CIMMERIAN
Hollowing<\/strong><\/span>
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\nSelf-released (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Having known so little about this Illinois-based bunch, I was keen to get my grubby paws on Hollowing<\/em>, Cimmerian\u2019s second full-length opus. I\u2019d heard that their debut platter Infinite Perdition<\/em> (2011) was a half-decent affair, but was never fortunate enough to set my ears upon it. I must say that this nine-track affair is quite impressive, however. <\/p>\n

As \u2018Rumination\u2019 makes its entrance, the first thing I have to say is that there is a strong European metal influence here. In fact, from start to finish, the album is drenched in a sort of icy melody which I\u2019d expect from a band coming out of Germany or possibly Scandinavia. Immediately, I\u2019m dreaming of vast, sprawling, frost-bitten wastes and great ships on mirror-like lakes as the opening strains bleed into my ears. <\/p>\n

Vocally, however, the band take on a deathlier lean as Evan Dale emits a guttural rasp over the jarring instrumentation of Tim Nagel\u2019s bass and his brother Dean\u2019s guitar, which accompanies Dale\u2019s own axe-work.<\/p>\n

There is certainly a haunting and poetic grace about Cimmerian\u2019s sound, one that has echoes of older Opeth as it casts long shadows amidst gothic architecture and frozen soil, with the guitars at time aching grey and then the next, in crystal clear motion driving hard with that distinctly European feel. Except for those deep-end vocals, there\u2019s no real malevolence to proceedings. Instead, the band opt for a more classical type of metal, which has a melancholic hue that is caressed only by deathlier promise.<\/p>\n

\u2018Extinguishing Vanity\u2019 maintains the technical aspects, particularly in the dry iced guitar sound and unusual double vocal attack. The real standout track on the record is the eight-minute \u2018Dissident Voices\u2019, however, which plays out initially like some goth-tinged metal melody of crisp guitars and ashen vocals. Despite this being gargantuan in nature, it nonetheless begins to make me question the marrying of the deathly vocals and the less threatening music. This is where this type of metal becomes rather lost on me, because despite the cleverness of the mellower segments of this number, the lack of weight means that \u2018Dissident Voices\u2019 becomes one of those remote, progressive passages that leave me rather frosty.<\/p>\n

Hollowing<\/em> is an extremely solid and often intriguing record that seems to have so many spiritual elements which worm their way between those grating guitars and well orchestrated drums. While the synth-driven \u2018Among Ghosts, We Slept\u2019 and the thrashier \u2018Metaphysical\u2019 are wondrous examples of broad-minded metal, I nevertheless feel like I\u2019ve been shut outside in the winter blizzard, and am reminded of some of the bleaker black metal structures I\u2019ve had to sit through over the years. Again, while each instrument is king here, Cimmerian could be a tad too clever for their own good as they shuffle from the occasional jazzy composition to more straightforward technical prowess. <\/p>\n

With its vein of piano, closing track \u2018Introversion\u2019 pretty much sums up the grey fa\u00e7ade of this record, and makes me realise that such bands are certainly an acquired taste. While there\u2019s nothing inaccessible about Cimmerian, the cold European flavour simply suggests that my bones are getting too old for this brand of polished, advanced metal. For those of you who like the colder climes of metal, however, Hollowing<\/em> should appeal.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CIMMERIANHollowing Self-released (2014)Rating: 7\/10 Having known so little about this Illinois-based bunch, I was keen to get my grubby paws on Hollowing, Cimmerian\u2019s second full-length opus. I\u2019d heard that their debut platter Infinite Perdition (2011) was a half-decent affair, but was never fortunate enough to set my ears upon it. I must say that this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cimmerian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17903"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17905,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17903\/revisions\/17905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}