ALBUM REVIEW: The Signs Of Spiritual Delusion – Cross Bringer
Blackened hardcore was always meant to be bleak wasn’t it? Fusing the oppressive darkness of black metal with the fiery anger of metalcore/hardcore is guaranteed to produce some extreme results. The Signs Of Spiritual Delusion, the debut album from CROSS BRINGER is no exception. Formed in 2019 by members of EUGLENA and THE HOMELESS IS DEAD, the band have wasted no time in releasing their impressive debut, refusing to let even a global pandemic stop them (the band members are currently located in Belgium and Russia).
The album is a good fit with the chaos and bleakness of our world in 2020. It explores the concept of prelest, which more or less refers the loss of and search for meaning in a world that offers little answers. The band themselves describe the album as “a journey through illusions, delusions, anger, grief, agony, deprivation, self-loathing and obsession”. This subject matter goes well with their music, but their intention isn’t only to depress. Instead they hope to let those this record strikes a chord with know they are not alone, encouraging reflection and “resurrection of self”.
As blackened hardcore goes, The Signs Of Spiritual Delusion definitely sits on the blackened end of the spectrum. The album is full of blast beats and reverb drenched, tremolo picked guitars. Vocalist Aleksey Aleksandrov‘s high pitched screams also sit on the more black metal side of things. That isn’t to say this isn’t ‘hardcore’ – the more chaotic approach of the band member’s previous projects is definitely still there. The songs on this album have lots of different sections, with cool ideas often introduced only to be swiftly discarded and never heard again.
On the first three tracks of The Signs Of Spiritual Delusion, CROSS BRINGER don’t put a foot wrong. Prayer opens with ominous guitar swells and a spoken prayer as distant distortion comes gradually closer. Sparse, heavy drums and screamed vocals soon add to the cacophony, building to a crescendo which tears straight into The Battle Of The Weak. This second track throws the listener all over the place, overflowing with tempo changes, odd time signatures and blast beats.
This is followed by the seven and a half minute lead single of sorts, and obvious highlight, Supplication / Sacrament. After a reverb soaked guitar intro, the track goes full WIEGEDOOD–style atmospheric black metal whilst still incorporating bursts of more mathcore-esque dissonant guitar parts. As the track’s crushing outro fades into a wall of noise, the listener should have a good idea of what CROSS BRINGER are capable of at this point. Drawing comparisons to OATHBREAKER and THE SECRET, the band haven’t exactly reinvented the wheel, but they do what they do very well.
After this, CROSS BRINGER give the listener some space with The Sun Ritual, a two minute synth-based interlude. It’s a good idea as there hasn’t been much let up for the past ten minutes, but it’s a bit of a shame that they don’t do more with the space. The whole piece is a very slow build with little for listeners to latch onto.
The band soon resume their sonic onslaught. Temptation Of Naivety (Untamable Black Dog) is another song which takes the listener to lots of different places in a short space of time. The next track, Torture Incantation, continues the feel of the album’s more atmospheric black metal moments. It might be fair to criticise CROSS BRINGER for not doing more at this point. To some extent these tracks feel like a bit of a repeat of the second and third – one short frantic rager and a longer more black metal style one. Despite this, both tracks are still strong and so crammed full of ideas that neither runs the risk of the listener getting bored. The album closes on Self-Inflicted Martyrdom which in many ways sums up the entire record. Flitting between blast beats and breakdowns at breakneck speed, the song is a final reminder of just how heavy CROSS BRINGER can get.
There is definitely something cathartic about The Signs Of Spiritual Delusion. Perhaps its reassuring to realise that there are other people out there as angry, confused or scared as you are. Or maybe it’s the way CROSS BRINGER embrace chaos and stand there screaming back in its face. Either way, this is an album which, despite its bleakness, somehow leaves the listener with fresh perspective and even a sense of something resembling optimism.
Rating: 8/10
The Signs Of Spiritual Delusion is set for release on September 18th via Consouling Sounds.
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