Review CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX ‘Banefyre’

If you want to escape the upcoming Indian Summer days and are looking forward to the dark season, you have at least found the musical soundtrack with ‘Banefyre’. It is the title of the latest work of Crippled Black Phoenix.

Justin Greaves and Co. are active since 2004 and entertaining rock fans with their dark post rock.
‘Banefyre’ contains 13 songs and since some of the tracks also have a substantial playing time, the new album brings it to a running time of an impressive 97 minutes.

If you take the milestones of the record one can mention ‘Rose of Jericho’. The 13-minute epic is an ode to dark rock and wraps the listener in the gray veil of melancholy.

An integral part of Crippled Black Phoenix are the vocals of Belindea Kordic, who along with Greaves is an essential component of the band. On melancholy tracks like ‘Bonefire’, her fragile yet intense voice shines to its full potential.

Worth mentioning is also the hypnotic ‘Ghostland’ which is characterized by a constantly repeating basic motif.

In contrast, the closer ‘No Regrets’ is more upbeat. Massive guitars, high tempo and hoarse vocals are what make the song become a brutal closing moment. The song is a punchy black metal track that clearly stands out from the rest of the record. It is the outburst of a blackened emotional volcano and suits the band well.

The intensity of the closing track seems even stronger, following the epic ‘The Scene is a False Prophet’ in which Crippled Black Phoenix represent the complete range of the melancholic world of emotions.

Overall, ‘Banefyre’ is a journey into the dark of the soul. It is not the light and lilting melodies which are in the foreground here. Rather, ‘Banefyre’ has an emotional depth, bringing evanescence to light, which, however, could have been presented well with 2-3 songs less