Band : Combichrist
Album: CMBCRST (2 disc Deluxe; 2024)
# of tracks: 23; Disc 1 (14) Disc 2 (9)
Full disclosure, I've seen Combichrist in concert a few times and have been listening to them since their album “What The Fuck Is Wrong With You People” (a sentiment I find I relate to, the older I get; but, I digress).
Video below is from seeing them live a few years ago with Lords of Acid
I'm telling you all this because as a long time listener I have seen their music grow and evolve over the years. I've found I enjoy each of their albums not only as a new entry by a band I enjoy but also as milestones in Andy and Co.'s history. Each one has a unique flair and style to it that adds to the bands overall sound aesthetic. This album, CMBCRST absolutely continues the trend. In fact, to my mind, it may be a stylistic culmination of everything the band has done with all previous releases.
Honestly I think this whole album is a banger, but I wanna focus on the tracks that really stand out to me AND I want to you go experience it for your self!
(hit up their bandcamp and show 'em some support! https://combichrist.bandcamp.com/album/cmbcrst)
(Also, I will be focusing on Disc 1, as Disc 2 is all instrumental ambient tracks. While good, they didn't impact me quite like Disc 1)
The album opens with the appropriately aggrotech Children of Violence. A song harkening back to their dark-electro roots with it's mildly danceable beats and dark lyrical content, but adding a distinct industrial tinge to the track with its crunchy guitar work. It's a blending of styles that works and sets the tone for the rest of the disc.
Not My Enemy could be considered more of an 'old school' Combichrist song with a sound that would be right at home on albums like “Everybody Hates You” or the aforementioned “What The Fuck Is Wrong With You People”. Aggrotech in the same vein as “Blut Royale” but with a distinctly clear message that many need to hear in these decidedly divisive days “You're not my enemy... Equals from the start, We're born into pain, And the cause we fight for is the same. Always the outcast, it's all we can see, Equally scorned, From what we could be”. Bad ass and poignant. One of my favorites on this album.
I fuckin' love the John Carpenter/synthwave-ish way Planet Doom starts. It feels retro enough to tug at those nostalgia strings but then goes on to incorporate some of the catchiest industrial riffs and vocal hooks on the entire album.
This is the type of song you know when they play it live it makes the whole crowd get up and MOVE!
D For Demonic, the second track, raises the tempo with a galloping thrash guitar groove that kicks off after the opening sample and doesn't let up until something of a breakdown in the middle of the song. However it picks right back up with it's break neck pace until near the end with what I'm calling an 'ambient breakdown'. Again, a blending of styles to great effect.
Through the Ravens Eyes really embraces the industrial metal aspects of this album with the chuggy guitars and some Stop n go blast beats at the beginning (and the end) that sound like something straight out of a Fear Factory song. Andy's vocals on this song are also particularly powerful and ominous. I always find myself movin' and groovin' along to this one.
Now before I close this out, I want to talk about something that seems to be a lost art of sorts when it comes to albums. The pacing or flow of the tracks. I know in our entirely too digital age, the focus is usually on singles, but there is something to be said about being able to construct an auditory experience that takes the audience on a journey from beginning to end. All of the same tracks can be present but the order in which they are arranged can drastically change the experience of the album, at least in my opinion. Think of it like a puzzle. All of the pieces can be present, but unless they are arranged in the correct order the image is disjointed.
CMBCRST is an album that fits together tightly and is arranged in such a way to take the audience on a journey of highs, lows, intensity and ambient serenity. Listeners, both old and new, are sure to find something they will groove to on this album.