Black Metallers from France, Cruxifiction have released their full length album, The Coming. I could not check their demo, The Great Agony, which was released in 2007. I am sure it must have been on the same lines as this latest release.
What stands out about Cruxifiction is their completely no-frills approach to black metal, which is quite different than the majority of their French counterparts. There are a lot of melodic approaches in their guitars, akin to the Swedish metal scene with a good balance between melody and aggression. The Coming is a good break from the usual French insanity.
While they are all dressed up with corpse paint, leather studs and spikes, their appearance is not indicative of the music they play. It is very different as they are not one of those black metal bands which are raw and sick. Cruxifiction is a very polished band and I was really amused to see a professional touch to their musical approach in their first full length album itself. The album cover is really interesting and makes one curious to see the album sleeve in its entirety. I am sure it would have been really good. On the first listen, it’s almost glaring how judiciously they incorporate blastbeats throughout, similar to Germany’s excellent Infestus in that the raging tempos are highlights rather than backbones in their compositions.
“Haunting Hypocrisy” is the opener which is a straight in your face kind of a track. Fast and rhythmic structure with a good solo in between binds this track well, making it is a very structured song with powerful vocals and good drumming. The tracks like “Silent Traitor” and “I’ll Bless You” are two amazing tracks. The production is razor sharp and the mixing is amazing. I wish all black metal bands have this and it is damn good to listen to, unless it is a grim band where I expect a raw production. Overall a big thumbs up to The Coming.
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