���A strong debut from the new German band Crone, not to be confused with the drone-rock project from Isis member Jeff Caxide. No, this Crone comes from one of the guys behind the well-regarded black metal outfit Secrets Of The Moon, though you'll only find the faintest traces of his black metal pedigree in these songs. Instead, Crone Germany bring us a dramatic blend of metal and classic 80's era goth rock, but they manage to distinguish themselves from the legions of other bands currently enveloped in this sound by virtue of their strong songwriting chops and attention to lush nocturnal atmospherics. My obsession with this mix of influences has been going on for years now, and Crone's debut definitely delivered with some great, moody heaviness, going for something stately and majestic than most bands who are mining that era of post-punk.

��� When opener "Houses Of Gehenna" kicks in with it's mournful, guitar-drenched beauty, I'm immediately reminded of early Fields Of The Nephilim, a sound for which I am a complete sucker, so these guys had me under their spell from the start. The members of Crone definitely seem to be working to capture that kind of lush, dark melodicism and lyrical gravitas, and for their first effort they do a pretty good job of it. By integrating some of their black metal influences into these songs, Gehenna doesn't sound as derivative as it could have, and there's also a heavy dose of shoegaze-style guitars that create some terrifically rocking moments on the EP. The likes of "Your Skull-Sized Kingdom" have a soaring, weighed power that also hints at the likes of Swervedriver and Ride, and there are spacey, bluesy guitar solos streaking high above all of the songs, while the vocals tend towards a strained distorted howl that still succeeds in bringing a stirring melodic feel. "Escher's Stairs" combines plaintively strummed acoustic guitars with hazy synth-strings for a hauntingly pretty piece of sorrowful psychedelia before surging into some massive riffage, and the closing song "Dead Man" features a guest appearance from former Swans member Jarboe, who provides some of her gorgeous backing vocals to this slower, moodier song that ends up building into the most movingly majestic track on the EP. These guys have put together an alluring version of driving, proggy goth metal with Gehenna, echoing the sound of latter-day Katatonia, Agalloch and Solstafir without sounding all that much like any of them; they've definitely caught my ear with this initial four-song offering, and I'm already looking forward to how their sound will develop across a full-length album. Comes in digipack packaging.