Showing posts with label Azerbaijan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Azerbaijan. Show all posts

Thursday 6 June 2019

Violet Cold "Magic Night" (2016)


Hailing from Azerbaijan and claiming to be an "AI simulated music project", this beautifully bleak and tranquil take on Atmospheric Black Metal doesn't gain any special quality from its claimed origins. The aesthetic no doubt is a work of human ear. The shrill tremolo guitar, gently cushioned by reverb, is mixed sweetly alongside deeply uplifting choral synths of awe and wonder. The drums push blast beats on occasion but mostly fall back on half paces with lots of pedal work, holding down a driving tempo for the synths and guitars to create a wash of astral, serene noise to indulge in. Accompanying pianos and glossy synthetic instruments cut through wall of buffering sound to add lead melodies and thematic progressions through rather minimal use of melody as the songs repeat many sections over and over.

Despite its highly repetitive nature and a lack of vocals to shape up passageways, its aesthetic construct is so luscious and intoxicating one will simply drift into the blissful existential beauty. Where does the AI come into this? I suspect that many melodies and drum patterns may have been generated through music tools and stitched together where appropriate. At its core this is very simple and repetitive music but its keen aesthetic design and concepts, like breaking up its wall of sound with piano, interludes keep the music interesting as that uplifting state is returned to after respites. For Amelie may be an exception, a classical piano piece reminding me of VNV Nation melodies and a hint of Chopin too, its hard to think of this song as composed by AI.

The record sustains this blissful construct throughout. Despite a lack of diversity in progression, its shifts in synth tone and varying assembly of the same formula work. The question for me now is how long does this hold up? And where do I find more? This has a similar tone to Saor and Kauan, it could even signal a sub-sub genre within Post-Black Metal. Superb record, almost meditative at times, toning back the aggression from the drums would probably serve it wells as its best passing moments are always on the half beats when the music mellows out and cruises along.

Favorite Tracks: Everything You Can Imagine Is Real, Sea, Silver Moon, Last Day On Earth
Rating: 7/10