Band:	Cold Cell
Album:	Age Of Unreason
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	July 2024
A review by:	AndyMetalFreak

01. Hope And Failure
02. Dead To The World
03. Left
04. Solitary Or Solitude
05. Meaningless [feat. Ines Brodbeck]
06. Discord
07. Sink Our Souls


Feel the full force of what modern, dissonant black metal and post-black can offer deep within this Cold Cell as your mind becomes subdued by the Age Of Unreason.

The Swiss black metal band Cold Cell have still never quite managed to pull away from the underground scene since their formation back in 2012. I have to say, this does surprise me, as the band's unorthodox approach to black metal is rather fascinating to say the least. They offer a striking balance between traditional, post, and modern black metal, bringing both melody and dissonance, whilst also focusing heavily on creating a densely immersive atmosphere. Maybe this 5th full-length offering Age Of Unreason could finally be the all-important breakthrough the band needs?

The band's line-up is a quintet whose names simply go by initials (Or numbers? Coordinates? Or whatever they represent), with perhaps the most intriguing member being drummer aW of Swiss black/death titans Schammasch. Indeed, the style behind this album isn't a million miles off that band. The album begins with "Hope and Failure", which, for me, is definitely an opener of more hope than failure. From the start, you're introduced to a dark, gripping, and intensifying build-up, featuring rolling, thunderous drum beats, powerful bass, and an unprecedented, heavy-toned mid-tempo riff. Plus, you definitely can't ignore the tortuous shrieks and shouts of utter despair performed by S. As the song progresses, the structure takes multiple directions as the tempo goes from mid to rapid, the tremolo riffs from dissonant to semi-melodic, and the drumming from complex to furiously powerful blast-beats. The song then ends with an atmospheric outro with the sound of eerie church bells and demonic whispers beneath a howling wind.

"Dead To This World" follows in a similarly dark and eerie manner, and you can say the music really justifies the title here as you feel trapped in a hellish soundscape, surrounded by a whirlwind of Schammasch-style dissonant black instrumentation, while eerily sinister synths only add to the whole dynamics behind its intriguing songwriting. From here, the atmosphere grips you more and more, the guitar work is constantly on the fence between melodic and dissonant, the rhythm remains hypnotizing and never overly technical or complex. The lead vocals maintain their torturous, harsh, narrative manner, as demonically possessed echoing chants and synths continue to help complement the harrowing instrumentation.

Perhaps the album's biggest surprise, though, is "Meaningless" (not literally), as it doesn't at all follow in the same style as the other 6 tracks. This song gently eases its way in with a soft, melancholic, acoustic passage before guest vocalist Ines Brodbeck's beautifully haunting singing takes control of vocal duties. This is by far the least blackened song on the album, perhaps closer to post-black or even blackened doom than disso-black. That is, until the latter stages, where furious blast-beats and ferocious tremolos are unleashed with total mayhem, and yet Ines Brodbeck's harrowing vocals remain in the same soft eerie manner throughout. It's then business as usual with the final two tracks "Discord" and "Sink Our Souls", the latter/closer being a particular album highlight for me due to its multiple tense build-ups, the final quarter containing the most memorable of these build-ups, leading to a great album finale.

Age Of Unreason can be as rewarding a listen as it is an unsettling one. It's far from what you'd call a standard, traditional, or melodic black metal album, and it's not exactly a ferocious headbanger, as memorably melodic riffs are sacrificed for a dark, mysterious, and intensifying atmosphere. Cold Cell have ultimately brought us a slightly unorthodox modern black metal album with post-black tendencies, where you'll likely hear some of the same characteristics as bands such as Panzerfaust, Schammasch, Mgła, and Mgła's latest post-black spawn Hauntologist. Overall, Age Of Unreason is an album that fans of those mentioned bands should definitely not ignore.