I am a fan of everything Justin Greaves has turned his hand to, from the spastic powerviolence of Hard To Swallow, the vomitous sludge of Iron Monkey, his playing on Electric Wizard's We Live, his cacophonous collaboration with Stephen O'Malley, Greg Anderson and Lee Dorrian in Teeth Of Lions Rule The Divine, his solo soundtrack work, through to his singular vision and most far-reaching project to date, Crippled Black Phoenix.
It's barely been 2 years since Crippled Black Phoenix released their previous propaganda pieces (Mankind) The Crafty Ape and No Sadness Or Farewell, but Greaves and his fellow vigilantes return already with a new sprawling masterwork, White Light Generator. Anyone who's familiar with the band will find little has changed (save for the third different singer in as many releases), but as a continuation of the sweeping prog-tinged protest anthems that constitute the majority of this band's oeuvre, they can do no wrong.
Opener 'Sweeter Than You' may have fans worried that CBP have abandoned righteous fury in favour of coy, cloying balladry, but the intricate interweaving of guitar, piano and violin of 'No! Pt I' should allay those concerns quick sharp, and when the full band comes crashing in, it's clear that it's business as usual in the CBP camp. Phew!
New vocalist Daniel Änghede, also of Hearts Of Black Science, manages to bring something new to the table, his powerful voice ringing out clearly above the music. Previous vocalist Joe Volk's subtler delivery could occasionally be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of sounds and textures vying for attention within CBP compositions, but Änghede manages to cut through all that and to hold his own. Things transition seamlessly into 'No! Pt II', an eerie slow-burner, which features some absolutely blistering work from lead guitarist Karl Demata.
"I longed to thrash out, to tear down, to destroy and annihilate!". This sample, taken from THX 1138, encapsulates the rhetoric of rebellion, of free thought, that this band espouses. Despite their relative obscurity in the grand scheme of things, Crippled Black Phoenix are pretty subversive.
Re-read the list of Greaves' previous endeavours. Go on, it's just up there at the start of the article. Most of those bands and releases are working within very much underground idioms, hiding their messages beneath tortured cries and impenetrable walls of distortion. I always regard certain musical and ideological cultures as preaching to the converted to some degree.
Despite my own affinity for genres like crust punk, sludge, grindcore and various other forms of aural bleach, your man-on-the-street isn't going to listen to Discharge and re-think his views on the horrors of war, or hear Napalm Death and be interested enough to read the lyric sheets extolling anti-corporate sentiments. The people who listen to that music are already aware, they have their opinions and ideas, and they find affirmation in hearing it set to appropriately ugly music.
However, you can achieve further reach working within the system, than against it. With the release of this album, CBP are actually now worthy of the phrase 'chart-botherers'. You remember the charts, right? Those things that tell you that people are actually spending money on music? Maybe it's this era we're living in, that bands with actual opinions such as CBP are now finally getting through to people. It's a welcome change, and if just one in ten look past the great tunes to the words that accompany them, and take a minute to really look at the society we are trapped in, maybe the era of mindless obedience will slowly become a thing of the past.
Anyway, 'Lets Have An Apocalypse Now!' is one of the more musically unusual tracks, featuring a hacking and gouging riff, vaguely Eastern harmonies, along with some disorientating massed vocals. The band's capacity for experimentation is nothing new, so even weirder tracks such as this don't feel out of place within their catalogue. It feels like there's a unifying thread running through all their songs, which allows for a pretty vast palette to draw from. 'Black Light Generator' gives Änghede the opportunity to show off the soaring quality of his vocals over more archetypical rock fare, and plenty of spiraling psychedelics from Demata.
The album is divided in two by a spoken word piece rejecting all preconceived notions of self, presumably narrated by Änghede, before the driving rhythms of 'Northern Comfort' kick off Act II in style, in which the band is wonderfully backed by the piano and vocal skills of regular conspirator Daisy Chapman. 'Wake Me Up When It's Time To Sleep' continues this more sedate approach, a downtempo number with haunting vocal contributions from Belinda Kordic, whose incredible voice you can hear more of on the upcoming Se Delan record she has recorded with Greaves.
'Caring Breeds The Horror' features some creepy guitar and banjo interplay over a funeral procession rhythm, with Änghede's vocals only just on the wrong side of indiscernible. The simple fingerpicking of the wonderfully-titled 'You'll Be Murdered' soon gives way to another sweeping piece that manages to incorporate piano, trumpets without coming across as pompous or overdone; no mean feat!
'We Remember You' begins winding down the album with a beautifully placid track, marrying lap steel guitar and breathy backing vocals with wistful lyrics like "Dreaming of summer days gone, like a memory long forgotten...", their delivery infused with so much melancholy it'll have even the bitterest cynic welling up. The plaintive strums and piano of 'A Brighter Tomorrow' do nothing to dispel the heartache, each member of the band's playing so subtle that they sound almost ghost-like, each note lingering fleetingly as it passes by. It's a truly moving track, perhaps more so than anything this band has recorded previously, seeming to focus more on the personal than the political.
With Crippled Black Phoenix's ever-evolving line-up it must be hard to maintain such consistently high quality output, but Greaves manages to push himself and his collaborators further with each release. Whether you are familiar with his past work or not, start with White Light Generator, work backwards, and thank me later.
