The roots of this Hamburg based German Dark Rock outfit go all the way back to 2004, and the only reason for this album only being their debut full-length, is due to line-up changes (the original singer quit in 2005, leaving guitarist Simon Schorneck with the task of taking over the lead vocal functions; at the same time the band also had to look for a new drummer; the original bassist/ backing singer leaves a year later) happening at the most unhappy moments.
Obviously, this made significant musical progress somewhat difficult, and it is typical for the band's core members that they never officially released or even distributed the early demo-EP Spread The Embers, because the guys felt that the recording quality was simply not good enough. 2006 sees the entry of additional guitarist Bengt Feil. For a while there, things seem to evolve the good way, but then drummer Vicente packs up and leaves in 2007. He's replaced by current drummer Robert, and the latter brings that necessary feeling of stability the band needed. So during 2008 the band (at that time consisting of original members Simon and keyboardist Marcos Lege, second guitarist Bengt, bassist/ backing singer Jost Aschenbach, and drummer Robert – whose family name, if I can trust my deductive reasoning capabilities, might be Franz) records its first proper EP Trails To The Sun at Hamburg's Balboa Inn's Room (with the band's original bassist functioning as recording/ mixing engineer and acting as co-producer with the band). The 5-track EP is released in 2009, but bad luck had followed the band somehow, as the label goes bankrupt just after printing the EP. This left the band to distribute the EP on their own, but the guys prevail, and their DIY methods not only result in several positive webzine reviews, but also in several shows both in the Hamburg region and in the rest f the northern and western parts of Germany.
The DIY ethics are continued for the on-line release of the one-track single Aeonseeker, which is recorded & mixed (and this is where my deductive reasoning came in play) by Robert Franz at Hamburg's aerion audio.solutions in a “...co-production with the band...” in one info source, another stating the EP was self-produced by the band (so...how about those deductive capabilities of mine, eh?). Regretfully, just after that, both Bengt and Jost had to quit the band due to their daytime jobs. But, undaunted, the core of Simon, Marcos and Robert forge forward, composing a set of songs for this, their debut full-length. Eventually, they find a new bassist in Stoff (family name unknown to yours truly, as it isn't cited in the booklet of the CD we were sent – what is however mentioned there, is that he also took care of the rhythm guitar duties on the album), and together the foursome records the 10 songs on the album.
One of which being a cover of The Cure's “Plainsong”, we find Simon is the band's main songwriter, with four songs having been co-written by former members Bengt and Jost (two songs each; and the latter even wrote the lyrics for one song). With lake Of tears, Amorphis, Katatonia and Paradise Lost mentioned as main influences, you can perhaps gather that the music also has a touch of Melancholic Metal, and in effect the mere mention of those influences should string expectations quite high. However, the album knows a slow start with Simon doing his vocal thing in a somewhat monotonous and uniform way. The occasional backings (not credited) he gets in the first part of the album don't help any to make things any less interesting...in the vocal department! Because musically things are really rather well-done. Without any frills or complexities, but incorporating catchy and captivating melodies, the music will no doubt induce a feeling of desolation and melancholy upon the listener and, mind you, that's after all what the band intends to do with its music, isn't it!? In the fourth song one's interest flares up somewhat, as the keyboardist gets into the Classical “Death March”...and starting the 5 song the vocal diversity of the album changes somewhat to include additional grave vocals in a couple of the songs, performed in part by one Jakob Gozdzielewski, whom also took care of the album's cover's dark design.
Now, I dunno...the band's description of itself being, “...a clouded sky with a ray of light shining through, a grave tune with a lighthearted melody, a sad story with a hopeful ending...”, so the thought came to me that perhaps the album has to be seen as a conceptual whole, in which the first part is supposed to induce that heavily darkened feeling upon the listener, with the second part taking care for some occasional rays of sunlight in an otherwise overcast and cloudy sky? I mean, if that was the intend, then the band certainly succeeded in its goal. Whether the occasional listener likes or don't, will very much depend on his/her personal musical preferences, but I'm guessing people who're into the aforementioned influences will find at least something of their liking with this album, of which you can find a couple of songs posted on the Bandpage at (www.) facebook.com/embercrow. But the band also has pages on Soundcloud, MySpace, Last.fm, and the whole of their output was posted at Bandcamp (links for which can be found at the band's own (www.) embercrow.de), and so if you're able to activate the player on that latter site (something I've never been able to do on the network PC I'm using to do my info researches), you could actually listen to the album (and the band's older material) as a whole...which is something I recommend.