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Album Review

Carach Angren – “This Is No Fairytale” [Album Review]

On This Is No Fairytale, Dutch black metal act, Carach Angren deliver massive walls of razor-sharp, black metal riffing, blast beat drumming, and tons of gothic-inspired symphonic elements.

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The orchestral, instrumental disc opener “Once Upon A Time,” creates an uneasy tension-filled foreshadowing of the terrible things to come. This time out the Dutch black metal act, Carach Angren deliver massive walls of razor-sharp, black metal riffing, blast beat drumming, and tons of gothic-inspired symphonic elements that are sure to please black metal fans everywhere.

The music is good, sure, but I think where Carach Angren excels is at the art of storytelling. The subject matter, while extremely dark, is not typical of black metal. Each one of these tunes is like a reverse fairytale (hence the name of the disc) complete with themes of murder, abduction, alcohol and drug addiction, bad parenting, and domestic assault, to name a few. Take for example this line from “There’s No Place like Home,” “Father was a drinker and a goddamn fiend/A sadistic motherfucker who could not keep his hands off his own kin.” I am not a prude by any means, but on face value this is not something I would normally find myself listening to; however, the storytelling is so good that I could not help but follow along and be led down the dark, twisted path of debauchery and violence – kind of like passing a horrible wreck on the highway, I don’t want to look, but I usually can’t help myself.

Bottom line, this is a decent black metal release with an interesting twist that I feel is at least worth a spin, especially if you’re already are fan of black metal.

Track Listing:

01. Once Upon A Time
02. There’s No Place Like Home
03. When Crows Tick On Windows
04. Two Flies Flew Into a Black Sugar Cobweb
05. Dreaming Of A Nightmare In Eden
06. Possessed By A Craft Of Witchery
07. Killed And Served By The Devil
08. The Witch Perished In Flames
09. Tragedy Ever After

Run Time: 44:17
Release Date: February 24, 2015

Check out the song “There’s No Place Like Home” here.

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