Album Review: Craving - Call of the Sirens
Reviewed by Liam True
Mixing genres can be a tricky thing to pull off. Especially mixing folk metal with black metal touches as the thought of it is awful. Craving however have done that superbly. On their fourth studio album, Call Of The Sirens, they blend genres effortlessly to create a folky/extreme metal child that’s reminiscent of Children Of Bodom & Turasis with a twist of Cradle Of Filth for good mix.
The somber opening acoustic guitar of Mich Packt Die Wut slowly pulls you in as the band then burst into blast beats from drummer Wanja Groger while the duel guitar assault of Ivan Chertov & Jonas Papmeir punches through the wails and shrieks of vocalist Chertov while Papmeir gives a beautiful solo throughout the opening act. Title track Call Of The Sirens is where you start to see the more melodic side as the previous song was more in your face. While it is more melodic, you’re still getting the blast beats and harsh vocals but the added symphonics in the background add more of an atmosphere.
Death March opens with another acoustic guitar before the band blasts into overdrive once again focusing more on the folky guitar riff side of things from Papmeir while Chertov bellows over the top with his gruff vocals. Once thing you may start to realise at this point of the album is the lyrics. More specifically the languages. As the album is sang in German, English, Russian and Ukranian. And that makes for a good mix as Mich Packt Die Wut is sung in German. Maiden Of The Sun is in Russian with the best solo of the album on this song right here. And I'd argue with the drumming of Groger and the combination of Chertov’s vocals with that solo it makes for a beautiful song.
Blood Of Franconia is more focused on the folk metal side of things as the heavier influences are still there but seem to fade away just a touch but are still visible in Chertov’s vocals. In fact, the latter half of the album is more folk metal orientated. Gods Don’t Negotiate is a brilliant song with the second-best solo on the album, although just by a small amount. Prayer For the Rain is the slowest song on the album and brings a more somber atmosphere to the record. Still heavy in the double kick and growling vocal department, the song itself is still heavy in it’s own way while being the slowest and calmest song on the album. Star By Star kind of sounds like a different band. It's not a bad thing, but it doesn’t feel like it fits in on the album being the black sheep. But then again standing out is usually the best case on a melodic folk metal album, as the songs does show heavy influences from early Children Of Bodom once again.
Ending the album off are two covers. One from Elena Tsagrinou titled El Diablo & another from Go A titled Shum. And to be blunt, they aren’t really worth your time. It feels like they were rushed and added last minute so I'd advise skipping them and leaving the album at Star By Star.
Crushing and in some places compelling, the album itself is a genre twisting tornado as you don’t know how heavy or even how light the band will force on you. Highly recommended to anyone who like the more folk metal sound.
