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REVIEW – If ‘Pain is Beauty’ was the uncomfortable calm that fans like me wanted out of CHELSEA WOLFE, Abyss is the storm that we all had to see coming and we were anxiously awaiting for it to hit. To say, CHELSEA WOLFE put out another good record is like saying “fire is hot”. CHELSEA WOLFE’s sound has been going thru so many different landscapes and journeys and each one more exciting than the last. With ‘Abyss’, CHELSEA WOLFE is clearly embracing a darker/goth folk that just creates beauty out of things that are not supposed to be labeled as that. It is like Chelsea was inspired by metal yet also bands like CONCRETE BLONDE and MAZZY STAR. The cd opens with “Carrion Flowers” that just sounds like a darker “Rasputina” with this vocal delivery that floored me instantly in this hazy cloudy dream reality that she seems to be guiding me thru. “Iron Moon” is the next track and it could be classified as gloom and doom metal like that just hits you till this whispering caressing voice starts over this gentle medley that manipulates you into putting your guard down, then it hits you with this chorus that just sounds like a stoned out version of a 60’s soundtrack you watch while watching being murdered on screen or running thru the poppies. “Dragged Out” is the next track and it really brings yet another direction for the listener to tread lightly down while this gentle voice guides you.
This record shows an embrace of goth, metal and also balances the folk roots that fans have come to love from her. Songs like “Maw” embrace this marriage that Wolfe seems to create; you have industrial like guitar meshed with a piano that just really creates an odd hybrid that really works well with each other. Wolfe does not stray too far from what fans are expecting with “Crazy Love” which has the folky sound with the violin, which along with “Survive” just really show that while the sound is changing somewhat, Wolfe still has her roots in folk. This is a very rich record, Wolfe dips her feet in many different waters and succeeds in each one of them to create an album I feel will be hard to beat in 2015 as ‘Album of the Year’. This is the record I feel fans wanted, and the record I feel showcases how multi-dimensional Wolfe’s sound is. From start to finish, there is not one song that is filler or lesser than the song before it. I feel this is the career defining record Chelsea needed to show people that she is not only here to stay but she is very hard to predict what is coming next. This is a daring and adventurous album that will be on a ton of ‘Best of 2015’ lists.
For more information on CHELSEA WOLFE, visit:
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Play.Spotify.com/CChelseaWolfe