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Artist: GOLDEN AGE
Album: Golden Age
Year: 2007
Golden Age is one of the Russian bands that I got to
know because of my works for this webzine. My
experiences with Russian bands are the same in most
cases; they’re really original and talented but have no
chance to survive in Europe. Golden Age is one of those
bands. With their ‘Break Down’ EP, released in 2006,
they already showed their big potential to me. Their
collaboration with Kenji Siratori turned out to be a
positive surprise as well (although it was hard to
recognise the original music of Golden Age), so all we
needed was a full-lenght. My prayings were heard and
answered pretty soon, because right now I have the debut
and self-titled full-lenght of Golden Age in my hand,
ready to be reviewed.
After the intro, the album kicks off with ‘Fallen Angel’.
It contains EBM synthlines, dark and powerful guitars
and a gentle approach overall. The clean vocal lines are
as beautiful as recogniseable, while the diverse
drumrhytms and guitarwork shows a tip of the song
building talents of this Russian formation. The silent
ending floats excellently into the uptempo tunes of
‘Self-Deception’. It has some wicked electronic sampling
all over the track, while the recogniseable chorus takes
care of the amount of power within the track. ‘Messiah’
is a very modern industrial metal track, with a very
catchy chorus and a commercial approach overall. It’s an
excellent mix of old school metal and modern industrial
touches. ‘Break Down’ opens with dark electronics and
strong guitars, but evolves in a gentle and easy
listening track. Its a cool mix of gothic and
industrial, with an extravagant touch of the
characteristic Golden Age style. ‘On the Edge of the
Ice’ is the first song in Russian. It’s an atmospheric
track, with uptempo drumming and powerful guitarriffs.
Next up comes the most Satanic song of the record. It
kicks off with very powerful guitar and drumworks, to be
followed by an industrial metal track which is heavely
EBM influenced on the sampling. It’s an easy listening,
maybe even poppy and danceable track, that’s followed by
another Russian track; ‘You Didn’t Find Peace’. Although
I don’t understand anything of the lyrics, this turns
out to be my favourite track on the release. It’s a
danceable track, with very powerful programming and
strong keylines. The guitarwork fits the song very good,
as well the beautiful vocal lines. The track is
danceable overall, and the catchyness makes it an
exceptional track. ‘Ghost’ is the next track, also in
Russian. It’s a more atmospheric track, with a very
powerful intro (on where the guitars, drums and keylines
are perfectly brought together). The track has
recogniseable vocal lines and powerful guitarparts,
which makes it definitely a track to remember.
‘Forbidden Season’ turns out to be my second fave track
on the release. It’s a very beautiful track, with lyrics
that fit the vocal style very well. Furthermore, the
track has really strong instrumental parts (powerful
drumming!) and cold keylines all over the track. ‘Golden
Age’ leaves the more dark romantic atmosphere of
‘Forbidden Season’ behind, to go back to the more dark
sinister atmosphere of songs like ‘Ghost’ and ‘Fallen
Angel’. The guitarparts are very heavy mixed, and since
they’re also pretty downtuned they take care of a big
amount of power all over the track. The gentle
electronics fit the dark atmosphere pretty well, as well
as the catchy vocal lines (sing-a-long chorus? Yes!).
The release ends with a dark club remix of ‘Messiah’,
which turns out to be a pretty cool bonus track to be
played at club parties.
Golden Age has not only confirmed their big potential to
me once more, they even managed to improve themselves.
The songs have more variation in both songwriting as in
the approach, and the electronic parts are more decent
than before. Golden Age plays pretty accessable and
modern music, and this debut full-lenght shows that
they’re ready to conquer the world.
Vote: 96 / 100
Review by: Gerardo |
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01. Intro
02. Fallen Angel
03. Self-Deception
04. Messiah
05. Break Down
06. On the Edge of the
Ice (Russian lyrics)
07. Evil
08. You Didn't Find
Peace (Russian lyrics)
09. Ghost (Russian
lyrics)
10. Forbidden Season
11. Golden Age
12. Messiah (Dark Light
club mix) |
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