Band: CIEN
Country: Poland
Title: Fate
Label: Old Temple
Year: 2017
Style: Black Metal

Review:
Cien makes me think of a French name, so of a French band, but actually the band is from poland and their name means "shadow" in Polish, so my mind is off the track here. I remember I quite liked this band's debut album, so expectations were high when I received the followup studio album, although by now this one can be considered an old release, too, yet it's the band's latest. Cien's music is a mid-tempo Black Metal influenced by the end '90's UK Doom Death scene, and I'd also compare it to the end '90's - beginning of '00's Czech Doom Death scene, when the Czech were in my opinion the most progressive, melancholic and abstract. Cien too gathers influences from all over the place and the result is a melodic and melancholic Metal highlighted by an upfront, complex and influential bass line and lead by a vocal that alternates between Black Metal wicked shrieks and Death Metal grunts. The tempo is mostly mid-tempo with some (a few) well deserved fast passages that quite frankly sound like a breath of fresh air when the atmosphere starts to become dull. My biggest problem here is with the one chord / two strings repetitive guitar leads that were ok-ish in the '90's but nowadays they sound too simplistic and instead of enhancing the melancholic atmosphere they just succeed in diverting the listener from an otherwise captivating and expressive music. Not sure what to say, I was expecting more from this album, I would have rather preferred the fast parts to be dominant here and the mid-tempo, depressive passages to be used from time to time only, but one cannot please everyone, so maybe the band's followers are pleased by the result afterall; I'm impressed by the bass lines only, but that's definitely not enough to make it a complete experience.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 6/10

Contact:
facebook.com/cienofficial
oldtemple.com