Crippled Black Phoenix ‘s perfectionism celebrates the big 20.
Led as ever by the indefatigable Justin Greaves (guitar/drums/bass) and Belinda Kordic (vocals), the band enlists the help of Andy Taylor, Helen Stanley, Matt Crawford, Georg Paco Nitschke, Wesley J. Wasley, Ryan Patterson, Justin Storms, Kostas Panagiotou, Robin Tow and Martin Hyde to re-record the sounds featured on The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature as well as cover songs on Horrific Honorifics Number Two(2), their thirteenth album.
Far from being a brand-new album, The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature contains nothing but previously released tracks, but which the band has chosen to bring up to date. We start, for example, with the sinister laughter of the long We Forgotten Who We Are, which quickly becomes heady and airy before finally welcoming the haunting vocal parts. Overall, the track remains anchored in quietude, thanks in part to its hazy, progressive Shoegaze roots, joining the gloomy but festive You Put The Devil In Me, a keyboard-driven composition in which the vocalist has a field day bewitching us, letting the guitars to take over for long lead passages. 444 stays with this occult approach before offering a warm but rather impressive sound, taking advantage of a few samples to half-awaken us from our torpor, but the different voices respond to each other until reaching Goodnight, Europe (Pt2). The approach is noticeably different, letting Belinda play with vaporous notes that float easily in the air and form a fascinating haze before fading away to allow (-) us a long moment of floating thanks to the keyboards and ambient noises. Song For The Unloved features an interesting vocal duet for the first rather calm moments, but the atmosphere intensifies and reveals saturation coupled with mystical tones before calming down again, then returning to jazz influences thanks to a saxophone. The rest of the track retains this surprising futuristic universe, before finally returning to a purer approach with Whissendine, allowing us to breathe while the singer hypnotizes us. The final sampled voice accompanies us through to Blizzard Of Horned Cats, a final composition that starts out very soft, then becomes heavier and more imposing, but remains in this dynamic of aerial effects until it gives way to madness and disappears into white noise.
So we’re back with Horrific Honorifics Number Two(2), which opens with New Model Army‘s Vengeance, where we can clearly feel the Post-Punk vibe and the Gothic touches that become more energetic under the combo’s touch. The vindictive tones become soaring on Laura Branigan‘s Self Control, allowing Belinda to sublimate an unexpected cloud of sweetness before returning to the Industrial-tinged Post-Hardcore atmosphere of Blueprint, a Fugazi composition where rage meets appeasement. The track remains quite intense, but the sound first becomes haunting again with And That’s Sad, a heterogeneous creation by NoMeansNo where regular eruptions of violence rage between waves of calm. Back to true tranquility on Hammer Song by the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, where 70s Rock touches are more than present and sublimated by the band, particularly in the leads, while Deep Purple‘s When A Blind Man Cries sweeps us away in its nostalgia. The Blues touches resonate perfectly with the airy approach, but GOD‘s My Pal transforms the rhythm to give it an infectious energy. The final cover is Goin’ Against Your Mind, by American band Built To Spill, whose Atmospheric Rock fits perfectly with Crippled Black Phoenix‘s heavier approach. I didn’t know the original band, but I could have sworn the composition was new!
Crippled Black Phoenix have this time chosen to revisit old tracks and give them a new lease of life, and that’s a very good thing. In addition to updating their sound, The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature, they unveil their influences on Horrific Honorifics Number Two(2), allowing newer fans to discover, or rediscover, them.
85/100
