A bare and scarred torso, hand grasping a spear is the striking cover art confronting us on this album and the scars of the mind are the deeper sub-text. This band spanning membership in both Belgium and Russia narratively represent phases of the phenomenon called Prelest in their music; a false spiritual state, a wounding of human nature by falsehood. You can tell before hearing a note that this is going to be heavy stuff and make no mistake it is. The group who apparently contain members Euglena and The Homeless is Dead do not make things easy in the slightest on their debut album despite it clocking in at just under half an hour in length. In fact, the first few plays of it went in one ear and out the other although the bludgeoning force and power was definitely noted. There is a simple solution to be employed in such matters and that is volume. Crank it all up to a deafening volume and hope some sort of clarity breaks through the surface. Yep, that did the job…
We have been informed that this is music for fans of Oathbreaker, Okkultokrati, Celeste, Deathspell Omega and although tenuous there are facets of the design of all these in the destructive nature here. Specifically, we get a fair bit of that coruscating Belgian sonic power ascertained by Oathbreaker and indeed Wiegedood here but in shorter snarling blasts than their more prolonged assault. It all starts calmly with a ‘Prayer’ of forming ambience, very much the calm before the storm, growing in stature and adding drums and snarling distempered vocals; all is not well. ‘The Battle Of The Weak’ fully throws us into the quagmire with what can best be described as bruising blackened crust flowing through its veins. Vocals are savage and snarly, pitched high rather than low, akin to a Jack Russell chewing a thistle rather than a bulldog and wasp. Guitars grate and grind, drums thump and the first of a couple of sonic squeals that crop up on the album add an abrasive shock. Fair play, this is certainly savage and downright nasty but it’s also as hinted at earlier difficult to penetrate and once the group have established their battering modus-operandi apart from a couple of sections of ambience it all pretty much folds in on itself presenting the same harrowing fractured nature through the rest of the playing time.
I guess that is exactly what they set out to establish though, the vocals give it a hardcore orientation and the skilful barraging instrumentation is chaotic practically tumbling over itself in haste. There’s some nifty melodic weaving amidst all the seething tension and I can imagine this being particularly devastating live. Far from immediate however this has taken something in the region of 8 plays to begin to sink in and I still don’t feel like I have properly penetrated it yet. We are kindly told “We hope that those who this record resonates with know that they are not alone in this crisis, chaos and uncertainty.” Perhaps the chaos within it and the uncertainty we feel is replicated here in musical form and maybe that is why I have found this a really difficult album. Who knows, it could simply be that I am not a huge fan of the vocals. Highlight is ‘Temptation of Naivety (Untamable Black Dog)’ something many have inside of them snapping away, playing violently along with the rough and tumble of the guitars but never giving a moment’s peace, badgering away and never allowing the mind to truly rest. It’s probably time to shut it in the kennel, of course it will be fed and watered but the constant want for attention from this has become a little too much. Maybe I will come back to it in time and one thing is certain Cross Bringer have definitely got my attention and it will be interesting to see where they go from this slab of embittered, sonic obliteration.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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