Cold in Berlin – Wounds
Release Date: 7th November 2025
Label: New Heavy Sounds
Bandcamp
Genre: Post-Punk, Doom, Krautrock.
FFO: Black Moth, Ides of Gemini, Mansion, Crystal Fairy, Vanishing Kids, Ex-People, Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Review By: Mark Waight
It may well be Cold in Berlin at this time of year but if you love post-punk doom rock with a modern, yet retro twist, “Wounds” will warm the very cockles of your heart more efficiently than a double shot of fiery Italian grappa! “Wounds” is the superb fifth studio album from Cold in Berlin, their first in six years and probably their most ambitious project to date.
Formed in 2010, London based cult band Cold in Berlin is Maya (vocals), Adam (guitars), Lawrence Wakefield (bass) and Alex Howson (drums). Bow Church provide the Synthesiser arrangements.
Opening track, the “Hangman’s Daughter” is an absolute gem, with modern and retro worlds colliding head on in the race to the rope! Harrowing vocals and a thumping backdrop make it a deliciously disturbing yet completely compelling start to our foray into the world of Cold in Berlin.
The beautifully bleak and doom-laden “12 Crosses” are perfectly portrayed as the incredibly hard burden they are to carry as Cold in Berlin bare all! This fantastically ferocious second song is fire and ice in equal measures! Slowly inching its way along, “Messiah Crawling” packs a powerful punch to the guts as you are dragged kicking and screaming into the wonderfully dark underworld of Cold in Berlin’s creative psyche and the “wounds” we all wear!
With a superbly regal retro vibe coursing through its veins, “They Reign” does indeed crown the synthesiser king once more as we are treated to an authentic glimpse into the realm of the dark-synth. Following a similar journey slow burner, “The Stranger” is both intense and captivating as the pressure is slowly and steadily cranked up to the grandest of crescendos.
There is a much harder rockier edge to “We Fall” as the power steps up a notch or two before the “The Body” makes its terrifying presence known, it’s as hollow a vessel as a possessed corpse, yet you simply cannot resist its pale gaze.
Heavy on the bass with a blackened heart, “I Will Wait” is slow, harrowing and cuts deep into your soul, whilst the poetically narrated curtain closer “Wicked Wounds” leaves its own inevitable mark as our precarious journey comes to an end.
If you love your music dosed up to the nines with marvellous melancholy, then “Wounds” is right up your street, with Cold in Berlin delivering without doubt one of the best albums of 2025 in this specific genre. Maya’s vocals are truly outstanding, haunting and unrivalled in their ability to bring an emotional tear to your eyes. “Wounds” is cruel, it’s harsh, but it’s also a stunning reality check delivered in Cold in Berlin’s own unique style and more than worthy of further investigation. Highly Recommended!
(4.5 / 5)
