...SIŁA I PIĘKNO MUZYKI TKWIĄ W JEJ RÓŻNORODNOŚCI


..::OPIS::..

Spadł mi ten album prosto na ryj i na początku nie za bardzo wiedziałem co się dzieje, bom ostrej poniewierce został poddany już w pierwszym kawałku. To się musiało udać. Pierwszy pełny album deathmetalowców z Wysp Brytyjskich wypchany jest siedmioma potężnymi hymnami o przekozackim klimacie. Bez badziewnych dodatków czy innych bzdur. Czyste napierdalańsko i to w dodatku tak złe, że nawet w piekle się łapią za głowy. Ten ciężar naprawdę wgniata, posępne dźwięki sprawiają że otwierasz oczy bardzo szeroko z wrażenia, a do tego ciągle chcesz więcej i dostajesz więcej, bo każdy kolejny utwór jest spory. Sześć czy siedem minut to tutaj nic nadzwyczajnego. Można się poczuć jak kawał mięsa przepuszczony przez maszynkę do mielenia. Cudowne uczucie, kto death metal miłuje i nosi w sercu niczym słowo boże, ten wie i potakuje ze srogością na ryju. Charnel Passages to wypiek powstały z przepisu z doskonale znanymi składnikami, ale mimo to pchasz go sobie do mordy, bo wiesz że będzie to dobre i chcesz tego. Czysta rekomendacja z mojej strony to rzecz niesłychanie oczywista i naprawdę wiele czasu z tym albumem nie potrzebowałem, by wiedzieć że koniecznie muszę sklepać do kupy kilka zdań o tym cudeńku. Niech się cholerstwo szerzy i rozsiewa smród po wioskach i miastach.

Mielony



With just a demo and an EP released under their repertoire, UK death metal band CRUCIAMENTUM already had a reputation as one of the most prominent death metal prospects today ever since main visionary D. Lowndes formed the band in 2008. With not even a full-length album released to their name, the band have already brought an awareness to the genre akin to what their counterparts in DEAD CONGREGATION and GRAVE MIASMA (in which CRUCIAMENTUM share two members with) have brought forth within the modern age of death metal as one of the leading bands within the new era of the genre.

Even though at the time, with just their “Convocation Of Crawling Chaos” demo from 2009 (recognized as one of the best demos of modern day death metal) and their “Engulfed In Desolation” EP from 2011 under their belt, the band were quite active on the live front respectively. Having done several European and U.S. mini-tours, along with playing a decent number of exclusive shows with bands such as Dead Congregation, Grave Miasma, Sonne Adam, Anhedonist, (one U.S. run CRUCIAMENTUM did even featured a very young Pallbearer on a couple of shows, and coincidentally as an aside it was CRUCIAMENTUM mainman D. Lowndes who mastered Pallbearer’s debut album “Sorrow & Extinction”), and played notable festivals such as Hell’s Pleasure, Killtown Deathfest, and Black Mass Ritual in Europe and Maryland Deathfest, Chaos In Tejas, Rites Of Darkness (twice), and Martyrdoom in the U.S. All this without the band having even released a full-length album.

Following a slight hiatus which would eventually befall the band, CRUCIAMENTUM would inevitably resurrect itself to finally deliver their debut full-length album the death metal scene has been anticipating. Entitled “Charnel Passages”, this sees CRUCIAMENTUM deliver their mightiest work yet and has already been deemed as one of the most anticipated death metal albums of the year. “Charnel Passages” is true dark death metal majesty in every sense of the word and will stand as the death metal monument of 2015. With dark atmosphere, pummeling brutality, and skillful playing all rendered with a clear yet massive, warm, and natural sounding production, “Charnel Passages” will make its impact on the death metal scene and stand as a modern-day death metal milestone.




The OSDM (“Old School Death Metal”) movement has been going on stronger and longer than the actual era of early 90’s death metal at this point. Whether or not this is a good thing depends on who you ask but even within this revival, things have changed so drastically that it has arguably become its own thing inspired and influenced by the classics but somehow in its own drastically different space nowadays. Quite a few of its earliest practitioners have fallen to the wayside or have become otherwise forgotten amidst it being consolidated into a few specific forms. Yet as with Dead Congregation, Funebrarum, Grave Miasma, and Obliteration, their mark has not vanished. Having technically predated the OSDM explosion, these bands are notably very different in mode and execution from others who have since fallen under that tag whether by choice or the whimsy of the crowd and opportunistic labels.

England/Scotland's Cruciamentum (now having partially relocated to Florida, fitting given their influences) are a band of personal significance for me. Formed in 2007, just one year before the monumental release of Graves of the Archangels and the OSDM explosion beginning, they got their start with a single track demo, showcasing the base ideas of their sound. The sole track would be rerecorded for 2009's Convocation of Crawling Chaos which is when I would discover them. While they weren't the first post 2000’s classic-styled death metal band I'd heard, their interpretation of older USDM muscle with a contemporary atmospheric undercurrent, courtesy of their Finnish and black metal influences, grabbed my attention quickly. Back then I was just starting to dig deeper underground, and they were one of my first exposures to death metal that was less about pure BPM and technicality as much as conjuring a darkly evocative, unearthly aura.

Two years later and we would see both a split with Vasaeleth, showcasing a later rerecorded track demonstrating a movement beyond their semi-cavernous roots. More importantly, the Engulfed in Desolation EP showcased what was hinted there evolved into a drastic change in direction. An aggressively dynamic, staunchly American riff-happy approach confused some fans with its notable change in production and de-emphasis on hypnotic ambience. Soon made it was clear that they weren’t about to rest their laurels on simply having a very strong aesthetic. It would be a long four years fraught with rumours that they were going to disband but finally in 2015, Charnel Passages would be released, bringing this long arc of evolution to its most developed form.

Having once shared half of their line-up with the aforementioned Grave Miasma, Cruciamentum were frequently compared to the blackened, ambience-heavy form of death metal often referred to as caverncore. This style, emerging in the wake of experiments by bands such as Demoncy, Profanatica, Portal, and even Goat Molestor (Grave Miasma’s old moniker), existed as a kind of bridge between the murkier, doomier ends of early 90’s death metal and the most primitive non-Nordic second wave variants of black metal. While Cruciamentum focused far, far more riffs on swampy fogginess it wasn’t hard to hear why they were compared. Earlier works by the band generally were prone to longer slow-burning single string riffs and doomier escapades. 2008’s “Rotten Flesh Crucifix”, their very first song, features a notably long Disembowelment style slow chug section as heavy as it was near ritualistic.

The Incantation comparisons never carried too much weight and in 2015, chief songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist Dan Lowndes made it very clear they were completely off base this time around. What was hinted at on 2011 is continued here but far from simply morphing it into an entire album, Cruciamentum also reconcile with the sheer crushing heaviness of their debut, transmuting it into a starkly different but not exactly unfamiliar form in what is among the most satisfying and well executed North American style death metal albums. At once old school yet made of a contemporary mindset, Charnel Passages manages to capture all the strengths of the classic era without simply becoming a tribute to them, simultaneously bereft of any “experimental” bells and whistles yet deftly avoiding the pure redundancy or tediously irony-tinged worship that characterizes many who have emerged in their wake.

On their long-awaited debut, a bridge is formed between the earliest pure strains of American Morbid Angel esque death metal in all of its militant tremolo might, further excising the residual elements of thrashy staccato rhythm and static punchiness. This is augmented with an eye for evocatively forlorn melodies in the vein of Demigod’s Slumber of Sullen Eyes, informing much of its doomier practices though placing this within a stalwart multi-sectioned structural layout. It has the doom-tinged and gloomy flavoring of a Finnish style band but this exists within the structural framework and understated complexity of a malevolent American-inspired one.

While fusions of American and Nordic death metal are not new, they usually focus more on evoking an aura of trudging filthiness. By contrast these brits emphasize riff-driven fury that still manages to find room to let the sense of being amidst the catacombic chambers its excellent album cover illustrates. Lengthy tremolo riffs are part of their bread and butter. Rather than simply heading off into aimless repetition as more ritualistic acts do, they’re frequently contrasted and juxtaposed with shorter, snappier phrasings. These link together in kinetic exchanges of fluid, flowing power utilizing their improved musicianship to put their songs through more twists and turns than ever.

Melodies emerge within these barrages to an almost meditative effect amidst the rapidly developing guitar work while drums expertly adapt to and enforce tempo. With Dan having played in the funeral/death-doom bands Imindain and Profetus, dirge-like portions appear frequently to set-up a series of riffs or serve as a transition point, resolving and developing melodies before using the building momentum to launch into explanatory series of riffs. It would be a mistake to call Cruciamentum a technical band but the careful layout of each song combined with just how much happens in each one results in impressively versatile and consistently thrilling songs that never rely too much on a particular element to work.

Even stronger than their impressive grasp of the genre’s technique is how they structure these songs. As stated previously, there’s a lot in each one but it never necessarily feels that way a large part due to how smoothly everything moves. The songwriting style achieves this through a mixture of repetition and progression, hearkening back to Formulas Fatal to the Flesh. They differ specifically in how rather than using paired riffs to build up to a grand reveal, they consistently develop and vary them throughout the song. Repetition builds up energy to slingshot new riffs to the forefront while retaining energy and intensity. What in older death metal bands would usually be a mid-section break wherein the primary themes are further developed with new riffs isn’t quite the same for Charnel Passages.

Of course these moments are just as pivotal but with how the rest of the riffs are constantly developing beforehand, they don’t really indicate as massive of a complete paradigm shift. Often they coincide with the previously elaborated usage of doomy songwriting. Rather than being a complete turning point, they are more of an indicator of a shift in song direction, hinting towards explosively climactic areas where the amassed energy and thematic momentum will be fully unleashed in broadly sweeping motions. This combination of older style cyclic recombination with a now far more common sense of constantly unfolding thematic motion makes songs easy to follow but also avoids any riff becoming too comfortable and thus repetitive. It also lets the underlying theme behind a lot of these riffs and their interactions remain consistently clear in how they are evolved over these lengthy songs, ranging between five and nearly eight minutes.

Where this album falls a little short is its someway dry production, possessing a somewhat thinner guitar tone than you might expect for this kind of death metal. It does mute some of the impact at first but it does a pretty good job adding this slimy, catacombic ugliness to the riffing evocative of the sort of archaic horror presented by the cover art. At seven songs, it is for me the minimum length a full length should be (assuming no absurdly long/short song lengths) but others might find that it passes a bit quickly especially on the two seven-minute monsters it ends on. It is very tremolo heavy with few more immediately grasped chuggier portions or easy mosh-friendly stomping, single minded in its dedication to evoking the sepulchral and the decomposed. What might make it less easy to get at the same time grants it strength with excellent songwriting with how well all the tracks contrast one another.

While it’s not exactly hummable radio fare, every track usually contains a few particularly stand-out melodies and riffs. The anxiety-inducing angular upper register runs a little before and during the midsection of “Piety Carved from Flesh”, the rigidly militant marching of “Tongues of Nightshade” breaking up its gale-force blast-battling, “The Conquered Sun” subtly modifying its opening melody in a reiteration to lead into a series of snaking asymmetrical configurations; the album might be short but its length is packed with a lot of powerful, gripping sections that give its funereal atmosphere a sense of grandiosity amidst its severity.

Atmosphere in this instance is a powerful tool that gives much of this album its explosive yet morose character but it rests on a strong grip upon the genre’s fundamentals and carefully arranged songcraft. With the band now settled in the USA and closer both literally and figuratively to the birthplace of many of their influences, it is not wrong to predict only greater things for one of the best bands playing no frills death metal. Hail to the masters.

Stillborn Machine



..::TRACK-LIST::..

1. The Conquered Sun (The Dying Light Beyond Morpheus Realms) 07:33
2. Necrophagous Communion 04:59
3. Tongues Of Nightshade 05:29
4. RItes To The Abduction Of Essence 06:00
5. Piety Carved From Flesh 05:20
6. Dissolution Of Mortal Perception 07:29
7. Collapse 07:54



..::OBSADA::..

R.B. - Bass, Guitars (lead) (track 6), Percussion (additional), Vocals, Songwriting (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7)
D.B-H. Drums, Songwriting (tracks 2, 3, 6, 7)
R.C. Guitars (rhythm), Guitars (lead) (tracks 1, 3-5), Lyrics (tracks 3, 7), Songwriting (track 1)
D.L. Guitars (rhythm), Guitars (lead) (tracks 3-7), Keyboards, Vocals, Lyrics (tracks 1, 2, 5, 6), Songwriting




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wtXpyEK344



SEED 15:00-22:00.
POLECAM!!!