Crematory have been playing their form of Gothic metal for more than 25 years now, and are now back with their fourth live album. This is a CD/DVD double set taken from the ‘Bang Your Head’ festival, with the DVD containing the 17 songs that are on the CD, plus four more videos. But, I only have the music to review, so will have to concentrate on that. Although the band are often defined as being Gothic, they also include Death Metal and Rammstein-style Industrial in what they are doing, and the result is a very Germanic style of music which has a greater reliance on keyboards than many of their contemporaries.
I have seen some reviews that have rated this as the live album of the year, but while it is powerful and interesting I certainly can’t go as far as that. The industrial element is too pervasive for me, and I felt that there wasn’t enough vitality and power for me to stay sufficiently interested and at one point I found myself checking just how many songs there were to play, which is never a good sign. If you like Crematory and what they are doing, and there are obviously quite a few, then this album is now available. But, unless you are already a die-hard fan I would spend my money elsewhere.
