Careful Saint

This is one weird-ass album. It’s taken me a hell of a long time getting my shit together to write this review, simple due to the fact that this is one weird-ass album. I don’t know what to make of it. It’s a dense, mysterious and truly disturbing venture.

I can’t even decide whether it’s a drum machine or not. The drumming sounds very rigid a lot of the time, but it can suddenly sound like a live drummer. I think he might’ve mixed real and programmed drums. It’s weird, but it adds to the atmosphere. I can’t really explain what’s going on, ‘cause I don’t really know myself. The riffing is gnarly, screechy and icy, the drum tempo varies from slow and technical to almost blasting and the vocals are all over the place. The first times I listened through the album I didn’t like it, ‘cause I couldn’t understand it. I thought it sounded like a jam session gone haywire. But after some more careful listens I think Daniel knows exactly what he’s doing.

Crossing all boundaries, fearing nothing, he’s crafted a seriously unorthodox album. It’s somewhat like semi-tamed chaos encapsuled in music. It can go in every which way; in any direction. And it does, seemingly at the same time. Growls, screams and choirs are constantly being thrown about, popping up when you least expect it. But a lot of the time it’s instrumental, or as in Helvetespreken where there’s also an old radio speech sampled. I have such ambivalent feelings towards the album, and I can’t help but to love it at the same time as I can’t understand it.

The sound is quite harsh, but not too harsh like in many black metal cases. It’s mystic and has an occult aura surrounding it. To tell you the truth it sounds a little like what Nattefrost attempts to do with his doped-up recordings. But this is actually good, grand even. You never know what’s gonna come next, you can’t fully grasp what’s going on. There’s no chance in hell to try and make any real comparisons to other acts, ‘cause Careful saint sound unlike anything I’ve heard before. Crackling, chaotic, unorthodox, untamed, occult and disturbing; black metal in its essence.

Originally written for http://www.misantropia.se