Crippled Black Phoenix doesn’t know how to stay idle.
Formed in 2004 in England by Justin Greaves (guitar/drums/bass), the band announced their twelfth album, Banefyre, on Season Of Mist in 2022, accompanied by Belinda Kordic (vocals/percussion), Helen Stanley (keyboards/monochord/trumpet), Andy Taylor (guitar) and Joel Segerstedt (vocals/guitar), as well as other live musicians.
For over an hour and a half, the band will let its influences infuse its mix of Post-Metal, Progressive Rock and Dark Rock with surprising hints. We can notice this frightening vocal introduction on Incantation For The Different, which will thereafter deliver an engaged message for the human being on a background of minimalistic tones before letting Wyches And Basterdz bewitch us with dark and worrying psychedelic sonorities. Vocals feed this uncertain darkness with mystical sounds, some screams in the background, then Ghostland comes to haunt us with heavy and dreamy choruses. The rhythmic’s regularity coupled with electronic sounds wraps us in a haunting atmosphere, just like on The Reckoning which seems to call upon primitive tonalities or Folk roots to develop its dark and disturbing mixture. One will note the alternation of vocals between softness and intensity, while Bonefire offers a suffocating heaviness which is translated into ghostly choirs, allowing the long Rose Of Jericho to unveil a progression in this dissonant and striking chaos. The track is long, and it allows the band to progressively reveal all its influences, making them explode or overlap depending on the moment between the mystical choirs and the macabre rhythmic. Blackout77 unveils an almost soothing sound, preferring to let the mystery settle before revealing vocals, saturation and even oppressive heaviness before Down The Rabbit Hole and its airy elements soothe us. The track’s slowness displays impressive sounds which keep the airy tones, saturated or not, but the atmosphere will change on the second part of the track which becomes more catchy, letting Everything Is Beautiful But Us unveil heady melancholy imbued with sweetness. However, saturation is present, as well as different voices which drives us to The Pilgrim and its soothing atmosphere. We will find explosions of dreamy energy which live in the band’s compositions as well as a disturbing groove to place quieter vocal parts, creating a real gap with I’m OK, Just Not Alright, which will make us sink to the borders of darkness. The false softness slowly settles down while trapping us with its airy sounds and a humming bass before the final whirlwind, then The Scene Is A False Prophet, the longest track, floods us with its obvious melancholy while echoing a well-known track of an American duo. The track remains slow before unveiling groovy influences and a haunting intensity which grows until the climax, giving way to No Regrets, a much more abrasive and heavy last track to close the album in the most complete darkness and Black Metal influences.
Whether Banefyre is your first contact with Crippled Black Phoenix or not, you can’t imagine what’s in store. Why? Because the band cultivates mystery, dissonant and unhealthy sounds as well as more impressive and majestic parts, which feed a singular atmosphere.
90/100