Cruciamentum (Gbr) - Convocation of Crawling Chaos
As I age, my take on death metal changes. When I discovered it as a teenager, it was about the rush. Growls! Tuning down! Harder! Faster!
At some point, I got into its athletic aspect. Flying fingers were good. Then something flipped, and flying fingers became bad. I started liking bands like Incantation and Portal. They sounded like decaying machinery. In a way, they sounded like me, only super-sized.
The “death” part has become more important than ever for me. Death metal should feel like death, or some approximation. It also shouldn’t wallow in that feeling. Instead, it should fight it. It should be like both death and life, opposites at each other’s throats. That’s the cause. Growls and flying fingers are just effects. This music of torsion produces friction, heat, energy.
[audio: CRUCIAMENTUM_RFC.mp3]Cruciamentum have this energy. They evoke some mutant form of Stonehenge, in which monoliths are not arranged by some unseen hand, but instead jut from the earth at angry angles. The riffs are the slabs. Dirt powders them. They host unspeakable rituals as lightning lashes the sky.
Morbid Angel and Immolation have harnessed these forces before. They figure heavily in Cruciamentum’s sound. Morbid Angel are in the swarming riffs that climb up and down large steps. Immolation are in the grand, half-speed dirges. Many bands mine this old-school sound, but most only draw their energies from below. Cruciamentum look upwards as well, and take from the gods. They’ve stolen fire, and they’ve built quite the pyre.
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Thanks to reader UA for the tip.
