ALBUM REVIEW: Weathervane – Cold Collective

Both fans and band alike were left devastated by the untimely passing of COLD COLLECTIVE vocalist Tim Landers earlier this year. However, the Boston-born band have managed to put together a new album, Weathervane, which has been almost three years in the making and features a lot of songs left in their original acoustic form. The whole album is dedicated to Landers and works as a kind of tribute to him. It’s also one of those albums which is just back-to-back great.

The album kicks off with I Saw The Night Die, which starts with an acoustic guitar and builds up to more rock-led verses. The guys sound just as good as ever with the singalong anthemic vocal lines in this track. Wait For It follows which is a great track where the guitars really drive the song and give it a really edgy feel. It feels a little punk inspired with the simplistic yet effective instrumentation used.

If You Could Be There was released as a single and it’s easy to see why. It instantly grabs you with its earworm verse. It’s punchy and just straight up cool. Landers‘ incredible vocals can really be heard on this track, especially in the middle-eight when he tears it apart then instantly switches back to the gentler vocals in an instant. Secondhand Smoke is next and again is mainly guitar-led, but it feels heavier than the previous track while keeping the same rock vibes rather than becoming a metal song. The pleading vocals bounce off the optimistic feel of the song in a manner which shouldn’t work but really does.

Forever For Nico was one of the first tracks released and it’s a change of pace. Using mainly an acoustic guitar, it’s a lot lighter and the vocals are a lot higher and not Landers‘ usual guttural sound. It feels a little pop and the lyrical content is just excellent. It’s almost as if this song just gets better as it goes on. You don’t really see what’s coming but when it happens it’s just perfect. Quicksand kicks in after this with a frantic chaotic sound which is familiar territory for these guys. The guitars and the drums in this song are great as they bounce off each other and sometimes blend really well, making the song sound bigger and more theatrical.

Anything + Everything is very bass-led. It’s got a fun hook that drives the song. The other instruments come in gradually but it feels like the bass is constantly at the centre of this track, with some more technical lines which always return to the original hook. It’s more subdued than some of the other tracks but it’s just these guys showing you just how versatile they are. Later, Heavy Days is a much darker-sounding song, which is a good thing to hear with these guys as it feels like another change of pace. It’s very bass-led again and has an 80s inspired middle-eight which again shows COLD COLLECTIVE‘s understanding of musical production and their skill as it fits perfectly within the track.

The album closes on Moonlight (I Feel Nothing at All). This one feels a little rawer than the others and that reflects how the listener feels. It’s an honest track with a real sense of melancholy as it closes on Landers’ vocals. It’s a reminder that Weathervane is more than just a collection of 16 songs. It’s a touching tribute to Tim Landers and the incredible and beautiful project he was able to undertake with his friends. It’s a great album and is an absolute credit to COLD COLLECTIVE’s repertoire.

Rating: 8/10

Weathervane is set for release on December 3rd via Rise Records.

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