Artist: Crucifixation
Country: USA
Label: Down With The Most High
Formats: LP / Cassette Tape
Year: 2024
The mind of the ever-prolific Tom, who goes under various pseudonyms, spawned this old style Black/Death Metal project called Crucifixation that debuted with the aptly titled ‘Goat Worship’ in 2022. The relentless and primal energy on that EP was something that clearly needed to be followed up. Whether it was because of Tom’s busy schedule or not, yet it took him over two years to forge this debut album out of the deepest pits of the American Black Metal pits.
While the music might lean a bit more towards Black Metal when it comes to its brooding and dark atmosphere, the chunky riffs and thunderous vocals do add a vital dash of Death Metal to the mix. Consequently, the music feels like a solid hybrid between Demoncy and Imprecation: sinister and overwhelmingly heavy. Compared to ‘Worship The Goat’ this debut album sounds a bit more mature in terms of the overall sound, the productions is clearly more dense and heavier. As a result, with the heavier approach, especially on the guitars, the degree of Black Metal is somewhat lessened and landing the band way more in the middle ground between Black- and Death Metal.
And, frankly, Crucifixation is pummeling almost in the same rather one-dimensional fashion as many of the first generation of American Black Metal bands that were more or less all built on the cornerstones of evil Death Metal. That might be something that you either love or hate, but it fits the bareboned approach of the band, that, other than bands like the aforementioned Demoncy, definitely also resembles the forward thrusting power of Archgoat.
It might be clear that ‘Blaspheme Unto Death’ is not going to change the world or the way you are looking at the extreme metal genres as a whole, yet it delivers just what you might expect from Tom’s vision on the Black/Death Metal aesthetics.
