Crippled Black Phoenix have been reaching out to us since 2004, warning of the impending fall of society and an end to people being well, just kind to one another. Studio album number 13 Sceaduhelm has a different approach turning towards “interior collapse, exhaustion and moral attrition…the quiet weight of survival”. With the main protagonist Justin Greaves in charge of proceedings, those familiar with the band’s output will have an idea of what to expect. Their expansive cinematic sound echoes Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Pink Floyd with epic grandeur. The atmospheric is often bleak and doom laden, yet they’ll also pull in some beautiful moments that bring lighter hues. Always emotional.
Taking the multi-vocalist approach yet again, this time Belinda Kordic is joined by Ryan Patterson and Justin Storms, with Greaves the main songwriter. The songs address burnout, grief, surveillance, institutional violence and damaged intimacy. Throughout the recording process the vision was to do something different from their norm and you can absolutely sense this with this exceptional album. Opener ‘One Man Wall of Death’ features some outlandish sampled speech over melancholic chiming guitars. No-one does crazy snippets better than Crippled Black Phoenix. The house feels like it’s on fire as the track swells with volume with scorching guitars. It’s all weirdly unsettling but absolutely brilliant.
Introductory piece aside, the choppy ‘Ravenettes’ keeps the fire burning with a turbulent barrage of riffs and choppy drums. Belinda sounds as bewitched as ever, her voice is such a unique force. ‘Things Start Falling Apart’ has an incredibly dark and powerful atmospheric enhanced by Justin Storms sounding like the late departed and much cherished Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne. The guitars here are sublime as they arc into the sky like fireworks.
The two-part song ‘No Epitaph/The Precipice’ finds Ryan Patterson’s voice rich and booming, reminiscent of another dearly departed soul, Mark Lanegan. Guitars swoop like ghosts as he asks the question “Is this where it ends? No epitaph for a love that couldn’t last?”. The chorus that engulfs you amidst a host of guitars and swirling strings is a thing of beauty. The second half of the song switches into a tempestuous storm of screaming guitars and thunderous drums.
Instrumental ‘The Void’ would scare the shit out of you if you played it outdoors at night, all manner of ghostly tones emanating from the guitar as more samples drag the listener into a realm of pure panic. ‘Hollows End’ is a powerful doom rock beast with Wes Wasley’s monstrous bass clomp to the fore over Greaves’ ground pounding drums. Belinda hovers over the thick tones with some incredible breathy vocals that sway with the groove like ghosts in the wind. ‘Dropout’ is a really kooky fusion of shimmering guitars and distorted boom bap beats, like a death imbued Cocteau Twins. Belinda’s voice quivers with a haunting energy as all manner of spooky noises echo and reverberate around your head.
I’m surprised it’s taken so long for Crippled Black Phoenix to have a song called ‘Vampire Grave’. The samples (Gene Wilder?) at the start of this propulsive and nasty charger are crazed and manic. Ryan’s voice booms with majestic might adding to the fury as the band set about creating a new genre, garage rock doom. ‘Colder and Colder’ has a blackened atmospheric of rising dead as Justin Storms intones with a deadpan delivery “colder and colder, see your hand on my shoulder” over a sturdy bass driven groove. Spright keyboards permeate the thin air but can’t manage to lift the gloom. ‘Under The Eye’ is unmistakeably Crippled Black Phoenix with those beautiful expansive swathes of shimmering guitars and haunting voices echoing in the ether. Belinda sounds frail like a voice from the other side of life reaching out. But there’s a dark cloud that hovers over the peace with the line “They come for the kids, they come for the young”. A storm whips up with all manner of roaring guitars, piano and spooky sounds before children’s voices deliver us from the evil.
The tender ballad ‘Tired to the Bone’ opens with some truly beautiful guitar fused with heart wrenching strings. Belinda’s voice floats like a butterfly flickering between the mournful tones. It sounds like a warped version of ‘I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You’ in places. Stunning. Final track ‘Beautiful Destroyer’ opens with what sounds like a caustic spell, bringing an icy chill as elongated waves of distorted guitar flow like thick lava. Ryan makes the speakers shake with his deep baritone over a swell of fired up guitars. There’s a lovely 80s post-punk shimmer to the guitar in the verse. When the chants drop over a thunderous clamour you can envisage fires on hillsides, as spirits dance through the flames, it’s such powerful music.
I’ve been a longtime fan of Crippled Black Phoenix, eagerly anticipating every release knowing that they will deliver stunning music. But there’s something about Sceaduhelm. Something different that makes this album stand out. Maybe it’s the end of times that we are currently experiencing exacerbates what they’ve been trying to purvey all this time has made the music land harder. Despite the weight of the instrumentation and themes, the album gives the listener a tremendous strength. It truly lifted my spirit and makes me want to stand up and fight for what is right. Contender for album of the year.
