COLD NIGHT FOR ALLIGATORS is a Prog Metalcore band from Copenhagen, Denmark.  When I say Prog, I mean these guys are really out there-the album contains many points where it is hard to tell they are even a Metal band.  In short, this is an album filled with crazy ideas written by guys with the guts to make them work.  Through out the album, I heard light rock, pop, radio rock, Metal, Metalcore, Melodic Metal, Hardcore...just so many sounds presented in "Fervor." But what kind of experience does this make for the listener? A wholly unique, if sometimes disjointed, album.

The first track, "Violent Design," immediately starts off with the dissonant Djent type of riffs, that base themselves in technicality but also have the tone and feel of Metalcore.  This may or may not be a good thing, depending on your tastes-it makes some of the heavier, more groove oriented rifts sound the same. However, they often break up the "core" sound with moments of pure, introspective clarity.   About halfway through the song, the band sounds completely different-it is hard to tell it is even the same band, much less the same song.  This isn't a bad thing...I actually really enjoyed their diversity but it does make the experiences a bit disjointed.  They have a lot of ideas in this song, and all the others, but they aren't put together as well as some Prog I've heard.  I'm truly amazed by how fast they can turn their entire sound around on a moments notice but sometimes I wished for smoother transitions.

Vocalist Johan is versatile as hell; he can go from screaming to pop like clean vocals in seconds without a moments notice.  The chorus on this song is a great example of what he can do. "Drowning Light," has a sort of melodic hard core feel in the beginning in the guitars before the song slows down with ambient textures, filtered clean vocals, and clean guitar.  The melodic bass from Christian is stupendous especially when just seconds before he was laying down the hammer. Johan's voice throughout the song switches between a tightly controlled clean, almost radio rock type voice with his searing screams.  His vocals really help steer the band and sometimes he seems to take center stage but the instrumentation cannot be discounted.  In just over four minutes, "Drowning Light," goes through musical passages that start at clean, go through breakdowns, crazy harmonies, crunchy riffs and then back around again.

"Nocturnal," sounds a bit funky for just a few seconds before more melodic textures take over, highlighted by Nikolaj's very interesting drums-a compliment that follows him the entire album because this guy really can play anything and he constantly sounds like he is in total control even when things get crazy. "Get Rid of The Walls," is one of the best from the album because it is so dynamic.  If someone walked in while I was playing it, the first part of it might sound like some sort of lost 80's Phil Collin's song but after the catchy chorus plays a couple of times, the band turns on the Metal pedal and devastates the senses.

There are a few missteps with the track list.  "Entangled" and "The Proposition" are pointless interludes that just slow down the flow.  The album also ends on a low note with the mostly uninteresting ballad "Infatuated" that doesn't really go anywhere. The track before that one, "Coloured Bones," is a standout and I can't help but think it should had been the album's real ending.   The clean guitar and light keys in the track's beginnings are clever and work well with the vocals and the track grows heavier and more intense as it moves along.

Despite a few weak tracks that kill the flow, I found "Fervor" to be a truly unique album from a band with an adventurous sound.  I think they can get better and no doubt their next album will be even stronger but "Fervor" is a solid album. I'm rating it so high, in part, because it has such a fresh sound  In an age where almost every sound has been done over and over, it is really exciting to hear a band that is so original.