Wolves and Sheep

After the excellent Melancholie2, Coldworld went quiet, and eight years later, their reappearance in the form of 2016's Autumn escaped my notice. But Wolves and Sheep, released to Bandcamp just the other day, did not. It's a bit odd and not quite what you'd expect from a master of atmospheric black bombast; Georg Börner, aka G.B., merges elements of his former sound in the first track with over eight minutes of atmospheric keyboard in the second. We've heard the blackened portion before, but it still sounds good, at least on the title track. A midtempo but quick-stepping -- and, for those used to GB's style, instantly familiar -- beat awaits the listener on the title track. The kaleidoscope of riffs hypnotically meld from one theme to another, repeating minor-key themes until colliding with a solemn but uplifting chord. Female choir ahhs, a new addition, soar over the usual riffing, but there are also track samples spread randomly in the middle, and they don't seem to make much sense, detracting from the normally captivating atmosphere. The track ends with an uplifting section, supported by heavy blastbeats. All in all, a decent Coldworld tune, and the listener hopes for a followup. But this is where things get a bit uncomfortable. The next track, The Cave / Wolves and Sheep II, is a twelve-minute track like the first, but with forgettable ambient keyboard for eight and a half minutes, followed by some more riffing that sounds like it got cut from the first Wolves and Sheep track and was dumped onto the end because he had nowhere else to put it. It's not awful, but it's nowhere near as good -- or as Coldworld-ish -- as the first track. If you pick this album up, you may consider adjusting your expections to the size of a single, not an EP. Bandcamp: https://coldworldofficial.bandcamp.com/releases.