Review: Fredrik Croona – 'This Is Goodbye'

FREDRIK CROONA
'This Is Goodbye'
ADVOXYA RECORDS

Fredrik Croona, the man behind acts Menschdefekt, ex-Project Rotten and Cynical Existence returns with his third solo outing in the form of 'This Is Goodbye'. Croona may be more well known for his more aggrotech orientated projects, but his solo work has seen him explore styles such as futurepop, trance and ebm as well to create far more diverse offerings and sowing off a wider range of songwriting skills.

'This Is Goodbye' sees the return of those familiar elements but at the same time twists them into darker territory than on the previous two releases. The effect of which as a more mature and actualised feel than the last two outings.

Songs such as 'As I Opened My Eyes (Feat. Ruined Conflict)', 'Leave Me Behind', 'Lies (Feat. Adoration Destroyed)', 'This Life', 'Lida (2017 edit), 'You're Never Alone', and 'Diabolical Intent (2017 Edit)' provide the album with a backbone of polished melodies, strong dance beats and a mix of clean and distorted vocals that nicely switches up the feeling of the album.

However, the instrumental tracks that bookend the album – 'Into The Unknown (Feat. Worms Of The Earth) and 'This Is Goodbye (Feat. Cold Therapy)' – as well as the central track 'My Bleeding Heart', are just as interesting as the more club-friendly core tracks. They set the pace for the album with their more ambient elements mixed with purer electro-industrial to create a more ominous atmosphere that reverberates through the rest of the tracks.

In terms of the production this again sees a nice development from Croona's previous solo releases. Although his heavier work with Cynical Existence is arguably more polished, this album takes more risks and the production responds well to keep things going in the right direction.

This is perhaps the most solid solo album from Croona to date. One that continues to see his scope and ambition grow beyond the realms of the genre constrictions of Cynical Existence and alows him more room to experiment. It's an experiment that is going really well and hopefully the title isn't an indication that he is saying goodbye to his solo work when it begins to hint at yet more interesting directions to explore. 

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