CULLOODEN – Silent Scream
- Posted on 24-01-2014
To be progressive, heavy and modern without alienating the listeners of different styles is a tough combination to tackle. If your music and songwriting is too complex, you may only gain musician-like appeal. And yet with the success of Periphery (and a lesser extent Fair to Midland), people are clamoring for artists to explore new sounds with modern tools at their disposal. Sweden’s Cullooden are another band that come out of nowhere and stun instantly with their potent progressive meets modern melodic hard rock punch on their debut album "Silent Scream".
Djent elements, multi-part smooth vocal harmonies that make me think of the best AOR/ arena rock meets Shinedown days, and a tandem of guitarist/ vocalist Fredrik Joakimsson and Jonas Ekestubbe that can rip a shred-tastic break as easily as honing in on the right riff/hook combination for the main arrangements are only a fraction of what Cullooden brings to the table. The band spare no expense in terms of an elaborate, full sound: using narrative, children sound clips to open "Endless Tears" and dramatic symphonic keyboard elements to fuse with the crunchy riffs and eerie clean lines for "Heaven Feels So Hollow". You certainly feel outside presence of mind from Tool to The Police as well as the vast Scandinavian progressive metal scene (elements of Circus Maximus and Pagan’s Mind come up), but for the most part Cullooden never lose sight of maintaining a strong melodic undercurrent in their chord choices, transitions, and verse/ chorus tie-ins.
I would much rather hear the commercial slant of "Our Only Desire" or the tricky time signature angles that make "Welcome to Wonderland" highlights of this brilliant record- and only hope that this album infiltrates many a record collection to push others to think in different colors and create better, vital music. "Silent Scream" is an early contender for debut of the year: and should give Cullooden a great platform to launch a viable career with.