I've had Act VII and just got Believe and like them both. I was wondering how their older stuff stands up since I see The End Records has a few of them in. Anyone help me out?
Crematory
- Thread starter Psychonaut
- Start date
As nobody else seems to care I'll try to help you out. The problem is that I know neither Act VII nor Believe and basically don't like Crematory very much. But I DO know all of their albums from 1993 to 1997, so I'll try to fill you in on what I think about these albums -
Transmigration: Their debut which is pretty much just another decent Death Metal-album with keyboards. Not like Nocturnus, of course. Crematory have always kept it nice and simple, as you probably know. It's one of their better efforts in my humble opinion.
...Just Dreaming: The second output which I think is by far their best. The songs differ more from each other and the sound is better. There's also a song with German lyrics on it. Overall it's still Death Metal with a heavy edge but the keyboards have already started to take over and push the guitars into the background.
Illusions: The third album is their most requested one over here in Germany. I could never figure out why, 'cause to me Crematory's quality started to decline with this one. But that's just my opinion. There's a song called Tears Of Time on this one which seems to be their biggest hit. Again the keyboards became more important so lots of the power was lost. Back in 95 this stuff was called Death Metal-Pop. A pretty good description, I think.
Crematory: This is pure crap. To me all the tracks sound like kids' singalongs with growls. Nevertheless there are many who appreciate it a lot. The whole album is in German and was said to be a gift for the German fans' loyalty. In terms of style it's pretty close to its predecessor.
Awake: A step back from their last two efforts and a bit heavier than before. It's well produced and again much praised by real fans, but somehow it never really grew on me. It's better than it's predecessor though.
If you ask me for advice then pick up their first two albums which sounded a lot darker and not so much like happy children's tunes. Hope I could help you at least a little bit. Cheerz!
Transmigration: Their debut which is pretty much just another decent Death Metal-album with keyboards. Not like Nocturnus, of course. Crematory have always kept it nice and simple, as you probably know. It's one of their better efforts in my humble opinion.
...Just Dreaming: The second output which I think is by far their best. The songs differ more from each other and the sound is better. There's also a song with German lyrics on it. Overall it's still Death Metal with a heavy edge but the keyboards have already started to take over and push the guitars into the background.
Illusions: The third album is their most requested one over here in Germany. I could never figure out why, 'cause to me Crematory's quality started to decline with this one. But that's just my opinion. There's a song called Tears Of Time on this one which seems to be their biggest hit. Again the keyboards became more important so lots of the power was lost. Back in 95 this stuff was called Death Metal-Pop. A pretty good description, I think.
Crematory: This is pure crap. To me all the tracks sound like kids' singalongs with growls. Nevertheless there are many who appreciate it a lot. The whole album is in German and was said to be a gift for the German fans' loyalty. In terms of style it's pretty close to its predecessor.
Awake: A step back from their last two efforts and a bit heavier than before. It's well produced and again much praised by real fans, but somehow it never really grew on me. It's better than it's predecessor though.
If you ask me for advice then pick up their first two albums which sounded a lot darker and not so much like happy children's tunes. Hope I could help you at least a little bit. Cheerz!
erik@digitalmetal
Member
Thanks a lot for the replies! I thought this was a dead thread. I guess more people know them from their recent albums since I have only just seen their first few recently. I'm not a rabid fan of them but the two I have I like well enough to get more of their stuff. Your recommendations will weigh heavily when I buy and that was the whole point!
St. Vitus
River of Understanding
I picked up "Just Dreaming" a long time ago. I guess up until now I thought it was their first album, but now I see according to Mad Dog's excellent post that it's their second. Very entertaining, easy to listen to death metal with a healthy dose of keyboards. Nothing technical by any means, nor is it "brutal", but enjoyable nonetheless.
I never really kept up with them after that album; I'm kinda surprised to hear that they have kept going. I should probably check out some of their recent stuff.
Hope this helps.
I never really kept up with them after that album; I'm kinda surprised to hear that they have kept going. I should probably check out some of their recent stuff.
Hope this helps.
Glad that I could be of help. Here's a short addition to my first post as I forgot to mention this. There's also a live album in stores called LIVE... at the Out of the Dark Festivals, a 3 CD compilation called Early Years, the Fly EP which was released prior to Act VII and a farewell compilation called Believe. Unfortunately I never heard a single note from those, so you'll have to check them out on your own. Or maybe someone else can fill us in?
The band has split up a few years ago and is currently dead. But they returned to the studio just recently to record a cover of Metallica's One (if my memory doesn't fail me) for a tribute album. And now there are rumors that Crematory got back together and are already working on new songs. It is said that the comeback depends on the quality of those new songs but I'd call all of this a hell of a publicity stunt. I don't really believe that the band ever split up completely. Again, this is just my personal opinion.
If you have more questions you can have a look at their homepage at http://www.crematory.de/ Don't worry, there's also an English section.
The band has split up a few years ago and is currently dead. But they returned to the studio just recently to record a cover of Metallica's One (if my memory doesn't fail me) for a tribute album. And now there are rumors that Crematory got back together and are already working on new songs. It is said that the comeback depends on the quality of those new songs but I'd call all of this a hell of a publicity stunt. I don't really believe that the band ever split up completely. Again, this is just my personal opinion.
If you have more questions you can have a look at their homepage at http://www.crematory.de/ Don't worry, there's also an English section.
