REVIEW: CRUSADES - THE SUN IS DOWN AND THE NIGHT IS RIDING IN LP (It’s Alive, Orange, CA)
Hey, new CRUSADES LP: Rocky Balboa called. He wants to know if he can start training in you, cuz you’ve got more meat and hooks than his brother-in-law’s slaughterhouse. BOOM.
This new LP from Ottawa’s latest supergroup (members of CREEPS, SEDATIVES, a million others) is basically a bunch of melodic punk-rock that’s been doped up with hardcore and black metal injections. So what you get is a bunch of catchy, fist-pumping, sing-along stuff (all four members of the band sing, so it’s already a sing-along before the crowd gets some) with soaring guitars, a rhythm section moving things along like a slavedriver, some spontaneous fretboard-travelling, lyrics tearing organized religion to the ground, some pretty teched-out playing (that never crosses the line into “strained,” or “showy,” or — most important — “try hard”), and, like I said in that VERY CLEVER last paragraph, tons of meaty hooks (dudes’ll be punching the sky like crazy to this one). All bridged together with the weird little interludes you find on some metal records.
Anyone who’s skeptical about CRUSADES’ claim to be a mix of melodic punk and black metal, or think it’s just some gimmicky statement, might wanna carefully reread that ingredient list I just wrote out for you; all the pieces are there. (And if that’s got you thinking it might be possible, go ahead and stream the record at It’s Alive’s Bandcamp page.)
I could picture dudes in bright clothes shredding a vert ramp on a sunny day to this record (‘Sacraments,’ — maybe my favourite track — comes to mind), and I could also picture some pretty fucked-up cult meetings/sacrifices taking place to this. I mean, what more do you want in one record? This rules. NOT SHITTY
A review of the album’s artwork: I love how these dudes have been sticking with a solid theme for the art direction of their releases. It’s always an old, religious-themed photo with extra black thrown in, and it’s always framed and cropped perfectly for an album cover. Looks awesome. NOT SHITTY
-BEN JENSEN
FRIDAY, JANUARY 6th, 2012
Holy shit! I didn’t know CRUSADES had a Tumblr! Well now I fuckin know! Follow these Ottawa dudes if you like melodic, anthemic punk rock that was raised in the woods by black metal!
