It’s not easy reviewing a two track, especially when one of those two tracks is a cover and the other features a guest vocalist! But that’s what I got, and that’s what I gotta do. Crossnail used to be known as Teodor Tuff – which unfortunately meant nothing to me, but with the wealth of Metal talent around in Scandinavia I guess a few must slip through the net. And it also makes me want to go and find something by Teodor Tuff…
‘Sands Of Time’ is a pretty damn fine chunk of Dark Power-ish Heavy Metal, evoking some similarities with Royal Hunt and Silent Force both musically and vocally (due to Crossnail’s vocalist having a real sound of D.C. Cooper with a Nordic twist) but without the overbearing keyboards and a good sprinkling of bands akin to Winterborn. There also is the aforementioned guest slot provided by Elize Ryd of Amaranthe, which is a useful connection to have and explains her inclusion on the track. What’s that music industry saying again? “It’s not who you know…Oh wait…yes it is” or something like… Joking aside, it’s a shrewd move when your band has talent and ability like Crossnail clearly have, but needs that certain something to get noticed in the crowd.
The second track is a cover of worldwide pop mega-hit ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ by Gotye. It’s one of the few pop songs that I actually like, it’s quirky, catchy, well-known and imaginative, so a cover has to bring something new to the table. And a Heavy Metal version brings a three course meal with it to the table! Initially the track starts a little disappointingly for me, that quirkiness of the original a little lost, but as the steadily band pile in with distorted guitars, pounding drums and another fine vocal performance, it all takes shape and makes a lot more sense – though the female sung part of the original is also sung by Crossnail’s singer, which at first seems a bit strange when they had a guest female singer on the previous track – but they make it work anyway. It’s hard to see how a Metal version of this track could have included anything else, been improved or taken in any different directions so on the whole I reckon the band pulled it off rather well.
Two tracks, as I said earlier, is hard to gauge a band on, but mission achieved I reckon Crossnail – I want to hear the album! And I think that’s the general idea…
(7.5/10 Andy Barker)
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