CHARM DESIGNER – Ecerlasting 2016

Charm Designer is a Colombian doom/goth metal with the occasional extreme outburst mainly on vocals. They seem to have a bit of a Samael, Tiamat, Rotting Christ & Moonspell vibe going on (think of all those bands at their softest/most goth influenced/experimental eras).

It comes as no surprise then that they caught the ear of one Waldemar Sorychta, known for his work with a lot of those acts. The whole album is a palindrome between soft but heavy soundscapes that contrast with some harsher passages and raspy, harsh vocals giving way to some smooth pop/goth ones, in a combination that sounds quite paradoxical, but seems to work quite nicely in real life with them gravitating mostly between a Samael and Moonspell bipole, but with a bit of the other “Christ/Tiamat” during their transitional yet “heavy” albums ie “The Perfect Dream/Clouds”.

This is a pretty uniform album with “atmosphere” and only a few songs breaking away from the style sufficiently, ie “The Replicant”, the pretty Crematory-al “Never After” complete with female vox that make it pretty sweet (wherever they appear actually and it might be a good idea to try and use that “lady” more), “Mentors” and “Endowar”. It almost reminded me a bit of some Greek bands as well, but in a “good” way.

At any rate, I would suggest that you check the band out and I am confident enough they might be “bothering us” again in the future. Unexpectedly good album from the “Under/South”… nice!

1. Everlasting
2. The Replicant
3. Never After
4. Disruption
5. Mentors
6. Inertial Drain
7. Endowar
8. By the Unmasked
9. Policy of Truth

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