It’s a one man band, but Cold Lands singer Alexandre Martorano may feel he isn’t truly alone with this one, spiritually speaking. This album called ‘In The Light’ follows a digital single called “The Liars prayer” released in 2018. Cold Lands is a French atmospheric rock project with often Christian themes, hence my first sentence. If you’re a fan of A Perfect Circle, Katatonia, Riverside, or Porcupine Tree then odds are this band is for you.
Like them, Martorano is working to complete the task of combining both the rock genre with the Christian genre in his album. If one turns to their closest Christian station today odds are they won’t find songs like this, filled with dark subject matter or metal-like traits. Don’t get me wrong, Christian music has a wide variety to choose from, from country to contemporary to pop and even rock, but one’s specific radio station may have a different focus. K-Love, for example, focuses on positive and encouraging music, but can dip into the more obscure, somber themes, which is there to comfort those that are going through a rough season. I’m not so sure they would play music from Cold Lands but you never know.
Some honorable mentions this album has to offer would be “He’s Coming”, “Wasted in the Wind”, “City of Water”, and . “He’s Coming” reminds me of many songs nearly by the same title, some in the pop genre. The title really says it all; God, grand in both scale and reach, is coming to save his children, so we should exult and wait on him. “Wasted in the Wind” reminds me personally of “Oh My Soul”, by the rock band Casting Crowns. They both carry tones of weakness, despair, and the desperation to try so hard to gain back control of one’s life when they feel they’re not being found or heard. And lastly, “City of Water” paints a picture of a city, not different from yours or mine, just any living community really, that is flooded in sin and people calling for God. These songs keep their gloomy and hard rock melodies while still speaking of common Christian themes like fear, prayer, God’s power, and his love. People that are Christian rock fans will likely enjoy them and so may people that aren’t as religious but tend to linger more towards rock styled music.
Author: Enrico Versace
Leave a Reply