Crimson Moon
Oneironaut
(W.T.C. Productions)
Oneironaut is a despicable amalgamation of every cool black metal trend in the last 16 years. Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s good enough to listen to, and other times I feel like I’m listening to a perfect snapshot of the history of black metal in the new millennium. Unfortunately, I can’t bring myself to love Oneironaut. This album could sit in a fire for a lifetime, and it still would not be hot. It feels uninspired. It could have been a haunting and apocalyptic masterpiece. Heck, it feels like it has all of the ingredients to kill it, and it just falls short at every lick and riff. Crimson Moon should have been a rock project for sole man Scorpios. He plays like a rock musician with some folk melodies which can get eerie at times, but not enough for it to be outstanding.
Okay, if you want the long and the short of the new Crimson Moon album, musically I think it’s pretty excellent, however I find that there’s no soul there. The atmosphere that Scorpios is reaching for is way above and out of his realm. Oneironaut sounds like a bland catch up, and that’s not really something that looks good on a full length musical release that comes after 11 years from the last one.
