(((((OPENmind/SATURATEDbrain))))): COLD CRAVING

Sunday, 29 June 2014

COLD CRAVING

Band: COLD CRAVING

Genres: Punk / Rock / Emo / Post-Hardcore / Black Metal / Screamo / Experimental
Related artists: Tel Fyr, Prepared and YENT.
Country: Calgary, Alberta CANADA
Years Active: 2009-present (hiatus)
Song: "Black City"
Album: "Beacons"
Year: 2010
Label(s): Self Released / Eschaton Industries
This post's artist is from the May 2014 Mix. This is track #16.
You can download the May 2014 Mix#6 right here or get the new July Mix#7 here.
For fans of: Fear Before The March Of Flames, Hopesfall, Alexisonfire, In Reverent Fear, Jude The Obscure, Saosin, Continents, Back When, Old Soul, Tel Fyr, Kodan Armada, In Tongues, Callahan and Beloved aka PROPER Screamo.

COLD CRAVING were introduced to me through Will from Tel Fyr, as when I interviewed him he talked to me about his previous band that he joined during the band's 2nd album. Upon first hearing 'Beacons' I was like, "Eh, it's alright." But on repeat listens and a trip to Quebec (during which I sung "Black City" for 3 days straight and drove my wife bonkers) I realized how well structured and balanced this band's recordings were. Oh, and they fucking own when they get crazy, which happens in pretty much every son.

"Riverwards" is an epic and beautiful song that should have been the soundtrack to Lord Of The Rings. The clean vocals on this track really bring Moving Mountains to mind, but the screaming and growling are much more reminiscent of Tel Fyr and (old) Hopesfall. "Oracle", which is from the same EP 'Getting Frostimental', is an opus dips back into their first album 'Beacons' longer, larger and expansive style that I think suits the band best.

"Oath Breaker" jumps back and forth from blazing screamy hardcore to slower (but still heavy) melodic hardcore. It's not like hard part, soft part, hard part, soft part - this, as well as other songs, melt the 2 styles with a plethora of others so they can all be used at any given time. In the end, the better tracks settle into a mish-mash of styles, and remind me most of Fear Before The March Of Flames, Alexisonfire (but crazier) and (good) Hopesfall.

'Beacons', I'd say, has the band's 3 best tracks; "Faithless", "Black City" and "Mythless".
"Faithless" is a fantastic introduction to the band. It starts with some pretty chaotic instrumental post-hardcore before reaching the 1-minute mark and transitioning to a very catchy and melodic midsection that builds until 4 minutes and then at 4:37 the band absolutely floors me with the tone drop in the vocals. So good.
"Black City" begins with back-and-forth vocals over slow, crashing instrumentals. This builds for quite some time, leaving the listener wondering when the song is going to find some footing, which it does right before the 1:30-mark when the clean vocals kick in to give the song some traction. The track builds from there until about 2:20 as the insanely melodic chorus leads way to the slow, ambient break that uses "If it means that much to you, why stay home?" on repeat to guide this passage to the song's cryptic ending. A peculiar but great song. I find myself singing the aforementioned lyrics for entire weekends, it's so catchy.
"Mythless" is a beautiful song like a warm and rainy afternoon. Think Fear Before with more Saosin/Circa Survive vocals and general atmosphere. There's no screaming or hard parts, but it's still good in my books, as every note just seems like the perfect fit.

With the recording of their final output, 'Oilslick', COLD CRAVING's growth from 'Getting Frostimental' is very apparent upon listening to "Rust That Made Me" and the latter half of the title track, "Oilslick". I must caution, as per my experience, that listening to this as background music is not ideal. Without proper focus this album in particular ran together and didn't stand out much. When I really sat down and took it all in I loved it.

If you like your screamy hardcore/metalcore very atmospheric, then crushing, then almost too melodic, I may have just made your day.

You can grab 2 of the band's LPs from their label here. The band hasn't broken up, but from what I can gather there isn't anything in the works for recordings in 2014. Prove me wrong, COLD CRAVING. ...please? At least we've got a Tel Fyr LP in the works.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2010 - Beacons LP (stream/download/donate here)
2010 - Beacons X EP (stream/download/donate here)

2011 - Feckless Son EP (stream/download/donate here)

2012 - Getting Frostimental EP (stream/download/donate here)
2012 - Oilslick EP (stream/download/donate here)

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(2012) COLD CRAVING - "Riverwards" (from 'Getting Frostimental')