After a seemingly six-year break after their last studio album, the Danish Death Metal unit Crocell is about to release a new album. Search of Solace, the opening track on Crocell’s seventh effort, has the honour of setting the mood.
The song covers a lot of ground with irresistible headbanger riffs, blast beats, mesmerizing guitar harmonies in one of the album’s most melodic passages, and even an organ shows up here and there. This is good stuff!
In 2024, the stakes are high for Crocell. But, armed with a Tue Madsen-produced new album, the Danish men plot to expand further their evil influence and rotten everything at their passage. Of Frost, Of Flame, Of Flesh is the title of the release and, together with the fact that the band has recently signed to EMZ, it has the potential of being Crocell’s big international breakthrough, after being on small underground labels previously.
The result are eight tracks of pure Death Metal frenzy, with all the extras you could want, Thrash and Black metal hints included, and the usual Crocell trademark: a solid, intense sound, and a dark and violent atmosphere. It was five experienced gentlemen from the Aarhus metal scene who formed Crocell in early 2007, and the pace was high from the start. Thus, the debut album, The God We Drowned, was recorded the same year, and almost simultaneously with its release in 2008, Crocell was named “metal talent of the year” at the Danish Metal Awards. It was the beginning of a respectful underground career for the Danish collective, featuring members that are and were active in other bands such as Illdisposed, Urkraft, The Petulant, Mordax and Demolition Inc., among many others.
The following years were spent playing sweat-soaked gigs, travelling the Danish roads and abroad and releasing five full-length albums and two EPs. Danish Metal has seen one band after another flare up and die out, but after 17 years, Crocell continues undeterred, having long established itself as an indispensable player in the Danish Metal scene with almost seven releases under its belt and over 100 concerts in over ten countries.
Of Frost, Of Flame, Of Flesh will be released on Gatefold LP (black vinyl, limited to 300 copies), 8-panel digipack CD and digital formats on June 28th, 2024 via Emanzipation Productions.
Lineup:
Asbjørn Steffensen – vocals
Tommy Christensen – guitar
Mads B. H. Gath – guitar
Uffe Laustsen-Jensen – bass
Andreas Posselt – drums
Digital single:
https://orcd.co/cro-sea
Web:
https://www.instagram.com/crocelldk/
https://crocelldk.bandcamp.com/
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/crocell/294945221
https://tidal.com/browse/artist/3960017
https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/1272066