Cruciamentum on the Deliberate Process Behind "Obsidian Refractions" (INTERVIEW)

After an eight-year wait since the release of their monumental, debut album, abyssal death metal outfit Cruciamentum make their long-await return with the release of their second full-length record, Obsidian Refractions. 

Out this week via Profound Lore Records, Obsidian Refractions builds atop the foundation laid by Charnel Passages, with Cruciamentum pushing its cocktail of unrelenting aggression and sinister ambiance to hellish new extremes. More dense and dissonant than its predecessor, Obsidian Refractions retains Cruciamentum’s uncompromising brutality while, in the same breath, embracing further experimentation rather than resting on its laurels.

For as much that feels familiar about Obsidian Refractions, it’s very much its own unique beast of a record, only coming together after years of workshopping, refining, and refocusing Cruciamentum’s identity with a revamped line-up that clicked with the band’s increasingly ambitious artistic vision. Even with an international move and a worldwide freeze on touring, Cruciamentum persisted, intent on releasing a worthy follow-up to their landmark debut from nearly a decade ago. A tall order, considering the universal praise for Charnel Passages, which continues to this day. 

But lo and behold, Cruciamentum pulled it off, as Obsidian Refractions comes off as equal parts a homecoming and an evolution for the quartet, asserting the band’s reputation as standard bearers of the best modern death metal has to offer, and proof that death metal has even more to offer in the future. 

Ahead of its release this Friday, we sat down with founding Cruciamentum member D.L. (guitars, keyboards, and backing vocals) to talk about why an album can take eight years to complete, thematic continuity between the band’s two full-length releases, the process and results of building a revamped band lineup, and more.

-Evan Mester

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I remember still being in college when Charnel Passages was released. Did you anticipate that the release of your follow-up, full-length record would take as long as it did?

We’ve always operated on the basis of “it’s ready when it’s ready,” so we knew we wouldn’t be following Charnel Passages in the space of a few years. We’ve never looked at Cruciamentum as the potential of being a career band, so there wasn’t any pressure to complete anything on a particular deadline; it took as long as inspiration took to strike.

One thing that caught my eye about Cruciamentum’s current line-up is the fact that you guys are essentially an international band now, with members based in both the U.K. and the U.S. How would you describe being in a band with some of its members being a whole ocean apart? 

It’s slowed us down somewhat and limited our potential for live performances. Still, even when we were based in the U.K., we lived on opposite sides of the country to each other, so we’re no strangers to operating over a distance. It would be great if we lived closer together and could rehearse regularly, but the band members are the right people for Cruciamentum. We need individuals with the right attitude, a specific playing style (especially very fast drummers with the right feel who are also comfortable playing slowly and minimally), and the ability and desire to tour.

Between the pandemic, line-up changes, and all the other typical curve balls that come with putting out a new record, I would imagine that the recording and writing process of Obsidian Refractions was nothing short of interesting, for lack of a better word. Would you be able to take me through that timeline? What were some challenges that the band had to overcome in order to get this new album released?

There isn’t much of an exciting story behind it; we had an outstanding line-up for Paradise Envenomed (the seven-inch released between Charnel Passages and Obsidian Refractions). Before that, I had never really been satisfied with our live performances, but at that point, we were playing live a lot and had gotten very tight and confident. Unfortunately, some members lost interest, perhaps seeing my leaving the U.K. as a bad omen, and left after writing ground to a halt for a while.

Fortunately, I was in close contact with C.E., who stepped in, taking over bass and vocals and allowing our previous bassist, D.R., to move to lead guitar. When we were looking for a drummer, M.H. contacted me, and I instantly knew he was the right person for the job. In fact, he was the first person to order our demo from the States, and I was a big fan of the bands he played in, so we had already been in contact for many years.

After that, the story got less interesting; we had to demo the material we already had written, pass different versions back and forth, and then slowly work on more until we were ready to rehearse and record it. As I stated previously, though, we’re in no rush to put out a flood of releases, and we knew that what we had was to the standard set by the previous album, so we just waited for inspiration to strike on its own.

Given all that has happened in the past eight years, in what ways does Obsidian Refractions resemble the follow-up record you sought to make initially? In what ways does it depict something new and unique for Cruciamentum that may not have been possible back during the initial release of Charnel Passages?

It's more the record I wanted to make; people in the previous line-up refused to entertain or even jam some ideas I had, so some of the more unusual ideas were more restrained on Charnel Passages. I'm still very proud of that record, and I don't disregard any of the songs; in some ways, the songs on that album are more suited to live performance than the newer material. However, I wanted to go into the writing entirely unrestrained this time. I think there's a sense of "more" with Obsidian Refractions, more complex writing, and more riffs in general; the fast parts are faster and busier, the slow parts are even slower, the atmosphere is much denser, and we've used more dissonance.

Evening out what I might have made sound like me becoming a dictator, it's the first time another member has written songs for the record. D.R. wrote both "Necropolis of Obsidian Mirrors" and "Interminable Rebirth of Abomination;" I think he brought something new to the band while also writing in a way that didn't sound out of place. I also think, especially with "Drowned," we allowed ourselves to experiment more, to take a less traditional approach, and even to try some things that only work in the studio. Still, at the same time, we've kept things rooted in the framework of what we consider death metal. It's still extreme, uncompromising, and aggressive—taking death metal back from hipsters and hardcore kids with Ned Flanders mustaches, WWF sunglasses, and vintage running shoes who are doing nothing but regurgitating old cliches and screaming, "But it's old school!" at the top of their voices.

Obsidian Refractions is the first studio release by Cruciamentum that has C.E. on lead vocals. Usually, that sort of thing can be a significant change to adjust to, but I found that they rose to the occasion and then some. How did you connect at first, and what made you bring him on board the band?

We were friends first and foremost; we shared similar opinions about music and appreciated many of the same things. After that, I worked on the mixes of his band Exaugurate, and I could hear a lot of what I liked in death metal that is missing these days; I could tell he was a competent and creative musician and a powerful and versatile vocalist, so he just seemed like a natural choice. We invited him to do guest vocals on stage with us on our last tour, and we were all blown away by how strong his voice was.

Going back in time, we had a stand-alone vocalist just before recording the Convocation of Crawling Chaos demo, but he had to leave for personal reasons. While directing the lyrics and aesthetic, I just stood in to complete the recording as nobody we approached was interested. We didn’t want to become a five-piece as it would have made a problematic situation logistically even harder, so once the opportunity for a replacement we liked came up, we took it.

It isn't lost on me that this new album’s opening track shares the same name as the previous album. What was the intention for this choice?

The song's lyrics are a conclusion of the themes covered on the Charnel Passages album, or at least until now. I had the idea of calling a song "Charnel Passages" for many years; I liked that it helped bring a sense of continuity and emphasized Cruciametum's themes. Like, the music exists in its own universe, emphasizing that point of departure from the mundane the moment the album begins.

A highlight of mine on the new album is the closer “Drowned,” which pretty much packs everything that makes Cruciamentum so extraordinary into one track. It’s also, to my knowledge, the longest track the band have written thus far. What was it like to make this one in particular? 

Technically, it’s the oldest song on the album since we had been jamming parts of it around the Paradise Envenomed era. It’s one of the most challenging songs we’ve written; it’s undergone several re-writes, but I like that it presents a very different ending to the album than “Collapse” on Charnel Passages does. It was a very collaborative track, and I think M. really shines on the drum solo in the middle section. It was quite the rollercoaster ride as the closing section didn’t come to fruition until we’d recorded it. It felt almost like the ending of the album was going to be a disaster, but it worked out really well, and I’m glad that we were able to create something so immense together.

One of the things I love to chat with artists about is the music that they listen to on their own time. For the case of Cruciamentum, what have you guys been listening to as of late?

It's constantly varying for me, but off the top of my head, albums I've been playing a lot recently have included: Current 93's Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre, Raison d’être's Within the Depths of Silence and Phromations, Excarnated Entity's Mass Grave Horizon, Goat Semen's Demo 2003, Dødheimsgard's Kronet til konge, Massacre's Chamber of Ages, Godless' Omega Omniptoens, Slayer's Hell Awaits, Van Der Graaf Generator's He to He Who Am The Only One, and Profanatica's Crux Simplex.

So, now that the record is finally out, what can we expect from Cruciamentum in the coming months? Anything we should be keeping an eye out for, or do you want to keep a veil of secrecy around what may be next for the band?

We’re slowly working on new material, but that’s a while from completion. We’ve got some tours for next year in the works, but nothing we can reveal yet. We’re certainly not looking to slow down, though!

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Obsidian Refractions is out November 24 via Profound Lore Records.