Multiverse (Instrumental Version)

My heart has a big soft spot for Violet Cold. Though their positive nature may not appeal to the serious black metal purist, their persistent beauty and uplifting melodies often brings me back to their different purpose in the genre's experience. Consistently solid with maybe an inconsistent production, I was hoping to find more of the unusual on Multiverse. Unfortunately, we're given a mostly forgettable experience and a half-hearted attempt at being a step down from the expectation.

Multiverse starts out with a promising-enough spacey riff on its title track, with folky acoustics coming through before going back-and-forth between its main idea and post-rock-ish passages. Despite a solid riff, it ends up feeling a bit... formulaic. And this only pervades through the rest of the album.

Though we get glimpses of electronics and female vocals here and there, Violet Cold tends to stick to the main riff idea+acoustic formula through the entire album. I was hoping to pick something out in the first few tracks to really highlight, but there just isn't much there. The riffing tends to feel generic and like B-side Violet Cold ideas. "Calliope" pulls out a fun little folky melody that's just not enough to save the slog they're generally bringing. Emin's vocals are decent, everything's performed well, and the production is solid. But everything's just fine and okay, nothing pulls you in and explodes to something greater than its basic elements.

And that's the most disappointing thing about this album, because that's not how Violet Cold tends to operate. We should be expecting anything from the beautiful & memorable to the completely outrageous. The most we get is a bluesy solo on "Gentle Soothing Affection" that's somewhat satisfying, but almost seems thrown in as a last-minute idea to add something interesting.

Violet Cold has, for a long time, described themselves as an "experimental AI project". I'm not sure if Emin's ever actually used any AI resources for their music, but whether or not that's the case here, it verges on sounding like it. Few moments sound original or interesting, it's a lot of "yup, that's a Violet Cold-type beat". And while it's not unlistenable and manages to deliver their signature positivity, it's just kind of dull. The title of "Multiverse" conjures up worlds of different influences and ideas, but they must be hiding on another Earth.