Day: October 7, 2017

This debut album by Old Night is one of the most beautiful surprises of the year in the doom field. The Istrian band, led by Luka Petrović, member of a historical band of the Croatian scene as Ashes You Leave, immediately imprints its own interpretation of the genre, with the rather obvious intent to propose a traditional doom but with wide shades that bring back to the most evocative grunge, and primarily to Alice in Chains. Authors of a superb test across the board, Old Night make use of the remarkable vocal performance of Matej Hanžek, a rare example of balance where many exceed in too stentorian tones or choose questionable solutions. The sound substrate is strong and slowed down as per script but the difference is made just by that component that transports the Rjieka guys directly to the extreme north of the West Coast, without everything appearing forced and derivative. Pale Cold Irrelevance grows with the listening as well as with the flow of the tracklist, starting with songs closer to the classic doom, although partially imbued with an alternative component, and then arriving at a second half really beautiful, with an Architects Of Doom worthy of the best cadenced songs of Alice In Chains, to get to the final Something Is Broken and Contemptus Mundi, the latter a shining jewel that makes use of one of the many excellent solos of Bojan Frlan, photographing at best the talent and maturity of the Croatian band. Not to be underestimated even an evocative Thieves Of Innocence, another testimony of a rare freshness in the writing, despite the sounds exhibited have their roots firmly in the fertile nineties; Pale Cold Irrelevance is undoubtedly one of the best debuts of this year, presenting us in the most dazzling way a new band like Old Night, able to excite by proposing in a personal way immortal sounds, in spite of the many who hastily consider them already archived.

2017 – Rain Without End Records