ALBUM REVIEW: Franckensteina Strataemontanus – Carach Angren
There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and CARACH ANGREN releasing concept albums. The symphonic black metallers from the Netherlands have made a career out of telling stories through their music and sixth album Franckensteina Strataemontanus, out on Friday via Season of Mist, is no different. Based on the life of alchemist Johann Dippel, whose experimentation with corpses is supposed to have inspired Mary Shelley‘s famed Frankenstein novel, it is the last with long-standing drummer Ivo “Namtar” Wijers, who left as soon as the album had been recorded.
When a band plays a style of metal preceded by the word ‘symphonic’, it usually means one thing – their songs are going to be bombastic, grandiose and containing more strings and classical instruments than the London Symphony Orchestra. CARACH ANGREN, surprise surprise, are no different. The prologue, Here in German Woodland, is suitably sinister and evokes images of a circus ringmaster welcoming his new audience to a show of spectacle and wonder; only, this tale is not quite as colourful and vibrant.
Scourged Ghoul Undead combines bite-sized blast beats with overblown synths that are definitely slathered in cheese, but gloriously so. The title track follows and this is a more traditional black metal song, but there is an underlying groove and stomp that makes you want to pull all manner of faces usually attempted by DEVIN TOWNSEND and gleefully bop your head. There’s also a toe-dip into more industrial territory, with Monster underpinned by a riff very reminiscent of RAMMSTEIN to drive it along. Moreover, you can’t help but smile; even when it’s black metal, the bounce that travels through the album is infectious, culminating in the eight-minute epic Like a Conscious Parasite I Roam that sounds like it’s come from the soundtrack of an adult-orientated Harry Potter film.
One thing CARACH ANGREN have always tried to do is balance out song strength with the storyline as a whole; they’ve never wanted to have one or two tracks on a record which are simply there to tie more memorable tunes together and offer up little else. When it comes to Franckensteina Strataemontanus, you can certainly see that they have done just that, although that doesn’t mean the songs don’t differ in quality themselves. Operation Compass, for example, was an excellent choice to be the lead single as it stands on its own, but in terms of the album, a random timewarp from the classic, Gothic period of the 19th century to the Second World War feels very disjointed, especially as the album seems to revert back as soon as it’s over. Sewn for Solitude and Der Vampir von Nürnberg are also not quite up to the same standard as some of the other tracks, but as a body of work they’re the only three and pass without incident.
This is a very fun record, and one that serves as a very fitting swansong for CARACH ANGREN‘s departing drummer. As the band continue on as a duo, they will look to build on their growing success and Franckensteina Strataemontanus is the album to do just that. It’s not going to finish close to the top of End of Year lists, but it’s certainly worth a number of spins.
Rating: 7/10
Franckensteina Strataemontanus is set for release on June 26th via Season of Mist.
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