Artist: Krucifixion Woods / Kangastus
Country: Finland
Label: River Valley Cult
Formats: Split Tape
Year: 2026
Following two demo tapes, released in 2018 and 2023 respectively, Krucifixion Woods managed to treat us to some new material in the form of a self-titled EP late last year. Initially, it was only available digitally, but at the start of this year, ‘Krucifixion Woods’ was also released on cassette via the band’s own River Valley Cult label. Given the fairly long intervals between releases, I hadn’t expected that we’d be welcoming new material again less than a year later. But that’s exactly what’s happened: I’m holding a copy of the split cassette tape with Kangastus, a Finnish Black Metal band that’s completely new to me.
Although none of the three previously released short players were exact carbon copies of one another, the leap from ‘Krucifixion Woods’ to these six new tracks feels the greatest. The difference certainly does not lie in a shift in the musical formula or different aesthetic choices; Krucifixion Woods still delivers unpolished, raw Black Metal with a strong lean towards Punk. But it is undeniably the case that these new tracks are a fair bit wilder in nature. The chaos factor has taken on a much greater role, not in the sense that it’s veering towards Bestial Warlust, but more in the vein of what we’re used to from old records and live recordings by, for example, The Exploited or Discharge. There are certainly no heavy “Bestial Black Metal” riffs here, instead the band sticks to the cutting riffs that sit firmly between the aesthetics of Raw Black Metal and Punk. Overall, the production is also a touch darker than before, which actually suits the simple riffs and chaotic songs very well and even gives the whole thing a bit of an identity of its own. Fans of raw, Punk-driven Black Metal with the energy of a rehearsal bunker will certainly find this to their liking.
Kangastus was a new name to me, which is perhaps not so surprising given that this split tape is the duo’s debut release. Nevertheless, the two are not entirely new to the underground metal scene; they have gained experience in bands such as Order Of Deconstruction, Senseless Genocide, Vihameditaatio and Grave Revelations, most of which, incidentally, also operate under the River Valley Cult collective. River Valley Cult is explicitly a collective which, whilst it does release music, aims to emphasise the mutual connections between its members and their shared thoughts and ideas about underground metal. This means that the bands under this banner are not necessarily extensions of one another on a strictly musical level, but rather they express those visions within their own musical framework. It may therefore be the case that Kangastus sounds quite different from their split partner on this tape. Kangastus is a much more ‘typical’ Finnish Black Metal band. The focus is much more on traditional Black Metal riffs, a brisk tempo and fairly catchy melodies, and overall it has a more distinctly organic sound. Compared to Krucifixion Woods, this duo shows that they have not (explicitly) been influenced by Punk. Instead, whilst Kangastus certainly does not come across as a copycat, comparisons with early Sargeist work are certainly inevitable.
