Style: Progressive blackened death metal (harsh vocals)
Review by: Nick
Country: Finland
Release date: 4 June, 2021
When you release a self-titled album, especially as a debut, there’s a certain implication that you’re making a statement. This is who you are; this is the album that represents you and everything you’re about. It takes some guts to come right out of the gate with a self-titled release and that’s exactly what Crimson Dimension did.
Hailing from Finland, this five piece is hitting the ground running with a solid blackened prog metal release. The album consists of four tracks, each one stretching well over ten minutes to add up to nearly an hour of music. Being a writer for a blog focusing solely on progressive music, the track lengths themselves aren’t what intimidated me; it was my apprehension about if I would be able to properly digest these four mammoths and give the album a review that it deserves.
Luckily for me, listening to these tracks was actually a rather relaxing experience. The way that each track moves in such a fluid manner made it so listening never got tedious and I never felt like I was taking in too much at once. It’s a very easy album to listen to despite the possibly intimidating first impressions. I even found myself going back to the start right after finishing the last track over and over because there was just something so intoxicating about it.
While they aren’t necessarily inventing any sounds that haven’t been done before, they’ve really got the progressive blackened death sound down to a tee. The band’s success in this regard is largely thanks to the absolutely stellar production that brings out the best of every instrument. Whether it’s the organic yet technical drumming, the soaring guitar solos, the absolutely spine-chilling growls, the haunting organs, or the well crafted basslines, there’s an insane level of thought and detail being put into every single second of this beast.
In terms of their composition, they lean pretty heavily on the blackened part of blackened death. While there are still throbbing riffs and skull-pounding blast beats, there’s a much larger focus on building an atmosphere and having the tracks naturally morph throughout. There’s lots of slow build but also lots of moshable sections. There’s also quite a few neo-classical bits throughout and a wide variety of guitar techniques. The composition as a whole actually reminded me a lot of In Mourning meets a slower, less zany Between the Buried and Me. Accessible, but extremely technical at the same time. Every member deserves high praise for the role they play because they all take it from being a good album to a fantastic album. If I had anything to critique in terms of the composition, it’d be that each song follows a pretty similar structure and overall vibe. There’s nothing wrong with it, it just makes it hard to focus on anything as standing out from the other tracks.
Lyrically the album’s pretty basic. I do appreciate that you can make out what he’s saying, but it doesn’t sound like he’s saying anything super Earth shattering. The only ones I could find laid out online were for the song “Black Mass” which seems to have been their single for the album. The lyrics are fine, cliché but fine. Lots of mentions about hades, Satan, false gods, and forests, all staples that draw them more towards their blackened side. Essentially I’m saying not to go for this album expecting a deep meditation on death or mental illness or trauma or anything like that, but honestly I’m perfectly okay with that.
In the end, I think it’s safe to say that this is an album befitting of being self-titled. They absolutely nailed what they were going for right out of the gates which is beyond impressive. Sure they didn’t reinvent the wheel, but honestly I kind of prefer it that way. As much as it’s fun to see someone try something unique and experimental (like Circle of Sighs), it’s just as gratifying if not more to see someone perfect an established sound and make it their own. I definitely recommend this album to any fan of progressive blackened death metal or just metal in general. It’s well worth many listens.
Recommended tracks: Crimson Dimension, Age of Awakening
Recommended for fans of: In Mourning, Between the Buried and Me
Final verdict: 8.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Label: Spread Evil Productions – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook
Crimson Dimension is:
– Ari Inkinen (vocals, bass)
– Timo Karjalainen (guitars)
– J-M Koppelomäki (guitars
– Janne Ahonen (drums)
– Eero Hokkanen (keyboard)
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