ALBUM REVIEW: Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape – Black Crown Initiate
From the opening sombre moments of Invitation, you’re met with an overwhelming stillness within the body. You allow yourself to breathe in the sorrow cleanly sung over plucked acoustic strings. Consuming the emotion felt within the solemn lyrics until a crescendo unleashes with driving rage. If this is your first introduction to the prog-death metal band BLACK CROWN INITIATE, you’ll find it hard to find a better example of the majesty that Pennsylvania powerhouse can create.
Arguably one of the most underrated bands in modern metal, they burst onto the scene in 2013 with the highly praised debut Song of The Crippled Bull that is still met to this day with great admiration from the bands cult fan base. Their sound is an amalgamation of death metal heaviness and progressive transitions featuring guitars that are as technical as they are melodic. BLACK CROWN INITIATE went on to release their first full-length album in 2014 called The Wreckage of Stars. Fans and critics create it featured on many albums of the year lists and it spawned an equally impressive sophomore album in Selves We Cannot Forgive.
Their first album in four years sees a label and line up change that has allowed to band to take a breather and create an album of epic proportions. Mixing the sounds of early OPETH, DREAM THEATER and WILDERUN and making it their own, they have their sights set on progressive metal dominance in 2020.
After the opening moments of Invitation, the track begins to open up with the impressive growls of James Dorton who’s bark thunders over the instruments, not just gut-wrenchingly, but also audibly which is refreshing to hear. The stark contrast between the growls of James and the cleans of Andy Thomas is something that truly must be heard. From sorrow and despair to hope and promise in a split second that hits hard and demands your attention. Their mix of brutality and melody is the real strength of this band and their ability to capture the listener is inspiring.
Son of War begins with the band channelling prog favourites TOOL before it builds into a dark and menacing attack on the senses. Blast beats ricochet off the melodies throughout and it’s home to another epic chorus. Years in Frigid Light is an early album highlight with its driving riffs and swagger. It arguably includes one of the band’s best choruses to date which will get stuck inside your head and shows off the immense talent that Andy Thomas holds. There’s a touch of SCAR SYMMETRY within the confines of the track in both the music and vocals and ends with some impressive bass work from Nick Shaw. It flows nicely into the most curious track on the album, Bellows. This sees James unveiling a talent for Mongolian throat singing which at first is a little jarring but works well as a breathing point for the record.
Sun of War, not to be confused with earlier track Son of War has a beautiful clean intro before it unleashes with a stabbing riff as the vocals snap over the top. The heavy passage midway through the track that leads into the solo is incredibly impressive. The drumming throughout the record is astoundingly tight, none more so than within this track with the machine gun kicks complimenting the urgency of the guitars which is never over-utilised.
Holy Silence is a masterpiece of prog-metal delight that leads into the instrumental He is The Path which ends the album on a softer note. The whole album is filled with moments of dread and doom but could the ending moments of stillness hint at a possible escape when all is said and done? It’s a testament to their ability as songwriters to make you feel such strong emotions which last well after the last seconds fade out.
Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape is an incredible body of work that balances the dark and heavy moments with the light in a way that is so powerful and inspiring that you can feel the variations of emotion twisting and contorting throughout the record with neither ever holding power over the other. It’s an album that leaves a lasting impression and should be heralded as a progressive metal classic in the years to come.
Rating: 10/10
Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape is set for release on August 7th via Century Media Records.
Like BLACK CROWN INITIATE on Facebook.