Album Review: Carach Angren – Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten (Season of Mist)

The fifth album, Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten from symphonic black metal band, Carach Angren is out now via Season of Mist.

Carach Angren’s new album, Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten is a serious contender for the best black metal album of the year. A contender for the best album of the year. It’s heavy & brutal but one that leaves you with a sense of wonder. It’s evil sounding but with a magical touch that sticks with you long afterwards.

9 tracks long, the follow up to the great ‘This is No Fairytale’ sees the 3-piece continue to hone their black metal/orchestral sound. The first couple of tracks grab you by the throat & demand your attention but it’s Song for the Dead followed by In De Naam Van De Duivel that start to squeeze. The former is incredible. A soft piano led start builds to a more sinister sound before the evil shout of “song for the dead” rings out. Backed up by a huge fist-pumping beat, its slow & methodical in pace but that just enhances the evilness surrounding it.

One of the most impressive things about Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten is just how varied the 9 tracks are. There is a lot going on here. Traditional black metal riffs, nasty venomous vocals, thumping bass & drum beats and an orchestral style that is dripping in evil atmosphere.

The double brutality of The Possession Process & Three Times Thunder Strikes proves that Carach Angren are the absolute rulers of this symphonic black metal sound. Furiously & disgustingly heavy but with such a bombastic sound that it’s near emotional just how stunning the album is.

Carach Angren leave you wanting more, much more, Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten is over far too soon. They’ve dropped an absolute banger of an album, one that anyone who listens too won’t be forgetting anytime soon. Utterly mesmerising.

Carach Angren – Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten Full Track Listing:

1. Opening
2. Charlie
3. Blood Queen
4. Charles Francis Coghlan
5. Song for the Dead
6. In De Naam Van De Duivel
7. Pitch Black Box
8. The Possession Process
9. Three Times Thunder Strikes

Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten is out now via Season of Mist, check it out through Apple Music below.