The Dark. Chelsea Wolfe

For Chelsea Wolfe reviews until today you had to read reviews by Erwin Zijleman. You can find three on this blog to date. Here comes my debut as a Chelsea Wolfe reviewer.

It has everything to do with the opening track, 'Cold'. The opening line and notes caught my ears immediately. Just a singer and an acoustic guitar playing the exact right melody it seems. The song slowly becomes bigger because of the piano chords that are added and the emphasis Ms Wolfe puts on her vocals. When the rest of the band joins the song becomes even stronger with a chorus that seems as simple as it is effective. In other words a great chorus. But the opening line, "I'm letting you go" are the first words that are sung on the album and here I'm let in to Chelsea Wolfe's musical universe at once.

The more I hear 'Cold', the more intense it sounds to me. The song gets into to me deeper and deeper. The kind of song I want to play over and over. It holds elements of the best songs of Sophie Hunger in the "so cold ... so alone" sequence and adds a dark kind of pop music to the whole. The piano takes on a driving quality and then drops away for a whispered part. The song goes through a host of emotions changing black to other colours and back again.

'Cold' may be of an über quality in my ears, as a whole The Dark keeps my interest with ease. Chelsea Wolfe plays with my ears in several ways. Although she is always serious, no musical joking in her musical universe, she does use different approaches to songs and within songs. 'Seethe' is a great example. The strict, uniform beginning gives way to an almost dance infused chorus. Still the song is strict and tight, but all sorts of sounds and voices are allowed to escape from the strictness.

Later on I'm remembered of female fronted gothic rock bands like Within Temptation, without the sound becoming this huge. It is an example of the element of surprise that can be heard all though The Dark. It is what makes it an attractive and good album to listen to. In the past, I have heard albums by Chelsea Wolfe but none invited me to spend more time with them. That has changed with The Dark. It's an album that wants me to get to know it a lot better than just for today. And I will.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order The Dark here:

https://chelseawolfe.bandcamp.com/album/the-dark