Closed Room - Closed Room (2012)

I could probably write an effective enough review just discussing the photos and design work within this digipak and how Felicia Simion's beautiful and brilliant photos totally mirrored a lot of the atmosphere within this debut release from, Closed Room. I will however, save you from that rant, and tell you more about the music of this interesting band from Belarus.

Existing within no concrete and definite genre, Closed Room presents a very experimental and atmospheric journey throughout this debut that runs the gamut between melodic metal, trip-hop, ambient, post-rock and a very miniscule amount of black metal, naturally with a serious degree of darkness and melancholy behind it all too. Songs like 'Tempted to Illuminated' sound similar to the French band Amesoeurs with the lead female vocals or even slightly Katatonia-ish at times, while 'Black Hall' is an interesting ambient/trip-hop piece with a female recalling a story to someone that at least to me reminds me of some of Ulver's work or even Akira Yamaoka's work on the Silent Hill games. 'Fly to the Sunrise' is one of the catchier tunes, again with passionate lead female vocals, the song has an odd sort of post metal/indie/shoegaze sort of thing going that's quite admirable, while 'In the Closed Room' is cinematic as all get out and brings back the trip-hop vibes strongly, though with a variety of samples that may or may not be from a movie. 'White Bed Sheet' is absolute Akira Yamaoka worship and I freakin' love it, whereas 'Winter Sun' takes on some weird jazz vibes that are surely different, but relaxing and engaging all the same. 'Blue Velvet' is where things go all awkward and suddenly its total post-black metalness, which completely alters the record, but its not bad. The album concludes with a melodic piano/synth/experimental piece called, 'Slowing Down Breathe (Part II)' and 'The Barrier,' which is more Silent Hill soundtrack-ish sounding stuff at first, but eventually adds some black metal aspects.

Closed Room definitely treads on uneven ground on this release and offers up a meaty amount of diverse music, but if you happen to be an eclectic listener fancying stuff like Amesoeurs, Ulver, Netra, Forgotten Woods and Mr Yamaoka's work then you'll probably want to check this one out.