Cormorant - Dwellings review
| Band: | Cormorant |
| Album: | Dwellings |
| Style: | Melodic death metal, Progressive metal |
| Release date: | December 06, 2011 |
| Guest review by: | Frodd |
01. The First Man
02. Funambulist
03. Confusion Of Tongues
04. Junta
05. The Purest Land
06. A Howling Dust
07. Unearthly Dreamings
It has been three years since this album came out; albums came and went, but this one found its place into my heart, clung and wouldn't let go (an echocardiogram would confirm its presence in my left ventricular wall). This is a fanboy reviewing his favourite, most-played music album, and by God will it be biased.
Cormorant is an independent band from Bay Area; so far they have produced an EP and 3 full length albums, almost solely on their own and with donations from fans. They have only had one line-up change, and that was Arthur Von Nagel (vocalist, bassist & lyricist) leaving in 2012, being replaced by Marcus Luscombe in 2013.
Cormorant brings an entirely new sound to metal and their musical style is hard to categorise, though it is progressive metal in essence. Their first album, Metazoa, leaned towards melodic death metal, and their third album, Earth Diver, towards black metal. Dwellings, however, is its own genre, Tiberian ass bastard folk as it goes; a unique blend of folk, black, melodeath and blues, under a progressive blanket.
That's all you need to know about the band; now start listening to the album for yourself here. Here are a few things to look out for while you do:
- The theme: The overarching theme of this album is the individual yearning to be remembered in history. There's the good: "Funambulist" & "Unearthly Dreamings"; the bad: "Purest Land" & "Junta"; and the ugly: "The First Man" & "A Howling Dust." There's also an instrumental, "Confusion Of Tongues," referring to the biblical Tower of Babel.
- The lyrics: Cormorant's strongest point is their lyrics. Mostly written by Arthur Von Nagel, they boast some of the most consistent, emotional, meaningful and poetic lyrics you could encounter in metal. Two audio samples were also used in this album, both being speeches made by national leaders, on "The First Man" & "Junta," drastically different in content, however. You will learn a history lesson or two from this album.
- The artwork: In a league of its own, Dwellings' masterpiece of a cover art was illustrated by Alice Duke. The full size version of it is 4:1 in height to width aspect, featuring an immensely detailed Tower of Babel, the details being references to different parts of the lyrics. I enjoyed correlating every piece of detail in the artwork to its lyrical reference point, and so will you. Feast your eyes on the full size artwork here, which by the way, has been voted by Metal Storm users as the best album artwork of all time.
- The vocals: The album features a variety of vocal styles, a unique mix of growling, shouting and clean singing that flows very well with the mood of each segment of each track. The vocal delivery, combined with the lyrics, is noticeably emotional, sometimes to the point of inducing tears as in "Junta" and "Unearthly Dreamings." The vocals, being unorthodox, could prove difficult for some people to get into, but for most, including me, it's a refreshing change in an otherwise stagnant scene.
- The instrumentation: Rich, varied and masterful; individually unique tracks, progressive song structures, an abundance of solos, chilling tempo shifts, beautiful bass lines, and special effects made using nothing but the guitars - Dwellings has almost everything I'd want in a metal album.
One final point: I've listened to this album more than 150 times, and to this day it still manages to surprise and amaze me.
I didn't rate this review because the rating scale doesn't go higher than 10.
Written by Frodd | 01.12.2014
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments: 10
Visited by: 57 users
| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161  |
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| Frodd Account deleted |
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by [user id=114127] on 01.12.2014 at 17:21 I think you could have given it a few more spins instead of reviewing it right away. It isn't fair to the band.
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| Frodd Account deleted |
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| angel. Evil Butterfly Posts: 2419  |
 I see what you did to Ilham here, you bastard Frodd.I haven't heard it still and you know that I'm not into folkish proggy stuffs, but anyhow I'll try to stand them this time 
---- The Fangirl.
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| Frodd Account deleted |
Frodd
Account deleted Written by angel. on 01.12.2014 at 21:43 You better do, because I've just written the most convincing review of all time. Actually, do it and keep the stuff I said in the review in mind. That means read the lyrics and stare at the album cover
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| angel. Evil Butterfly Posts: 2419 |
Written by [user id=114127] on 01.12.2014 at 21:47 I take words of Editor in chief of internet for granted.
---- The Fangirl.
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| Frodd Account deleted |
Frodd
Account deleted Written by angel. on 01.12.2014 at 22:04 Kids this day, rebelling against authority and stuff
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| R'Vannith ghedengi Elite Posts: 3099  |
You couldn't have chosen a more well developed album as a favourite than this one I think, and your review is accurately written to reflect just how well developed it is all round. Nice work.  I recognize this as their most accomplished album, though Metazoa remains my personal favourite.
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| Frodd Account deleted |
Frodd
Account deleted Written by R'Vannith on 02.12.2014 at 15:41 Thanks, dude. I guess I owe you this, kind of. Dwellings wouldnt have remained their most developed album had Arthur decided to stick around. But sadly it is now. And I do fucking love Metazoa as well, 10.5/10
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