Crimson Dimension - Crimson Dimension

It takes a lot to make ‘epic progressive extreme metal’ work. For Finland’s Crimson Dimension, they take their craft over four tracks, stretch them out in anywhere from 13 to 18 minute increments, and show listeners what they can do with a guitar. For those who love guitar focused epics in the vein of Wintersun or even groups like Dark Fortress’s earlier work, one is going to really find Crimson Dimension a treat. Right from the opening s/t track, one can tell the guitars are the star with their layered riffs. The vocals have that layered snarl/ shriek to them making the music sound like a hybrid of death metal and black metal, again drawing in more fans. The pace is a bit chugging and doesn’t really deviate, which might make listeners a little bored, but once one gets to the middle of the track, then the real magic begins with the guitar solos with the synth/ keyboards supporting it. The keyboards always seem to be there, haunting everything else, but never quite trying to up-show the other instruments, and with some of the mournful guitar tones there even seems to be some My Dying Bride influence there as well. Not quite dragging and depressive, but enough to evoke some emotions other than a need to furiously headbang,

Other tracks like ‘Age Of Awakening’ try to delve more into progressive elements that Opeth might work with. Spoken word parts, a more ‘acoustic’ tone to some of the guitar passages, and overall a slower, darker tone to the music show that Crimson Dimension’s five piece can draw out the doomier parts with just as much interest as the faster ones. ‘Black Mass,’ one of the first songs previewed by the group in anticipation of this full length, does a similar format, but for some reason the drums sound a bit clunky and jarring, taking away from the overall beauty of the music. The synth does have a stronger presence here, adding more gothic overtones rather than just being a support piece compared to some of the other tracks. The closing ‘Valon Hylkaama’ does its best to merge the faster parts heard on a track like ‘Crimson Dimension’ though with less of a solo focus with the slower parts of ‘Age of Awakening.’ The guitars actually sound the most ‘progressive’ here, especially during their quiet moments. Oddly enough, the synth/ keyboards are very limited here, giving the whole track a very different sound compared to what has been heard so far with Crimson Dimension. It works to their advantage though.

As an overall result, despite being an album worth almost an hour of music, there are only 4 tracks to really delve into the scope of Crimson Dimension’s work. Listeners are either going to be hooked from the opening once they carry through, or might skip around the other tracks till they hear the parts that make them tick in the musical sense. While the guitar solo parts can tend to sound a bit the same after a while, especially with the synth lines along or after it, it is safe to say that ‘Crimson Dimension’ doesn’t have too many repeating parts. It just takes some tenacity to sit through each track, and those who do will be well rewarded with some pretty epic scores here and there. Crimson Dimension is certainly a melodic output worth grinding through, although more tracks and more progressive elements, be it an organic sounding keyboard/ piano solo here and there or more clean/ spoken vocal passages, would have made the album stand out more.

3.5 / 5 STARS


1. Crimson Dimension
2. Black Mass
3. Age Of Awakening
4. Valon Hylkaama


Label: https://www.facebook.com/spreadevilproductions
Band: https://www.facebook.com/crimsondimensionofficial
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
May 19, 2021
Next review: Depression - Ära Der Finsternis

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