| CD REVIEW Crocell |
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Band : Crocell Formed in January 2007 by musicians from the Underground Metal scene (singer Magnus Jörgensen is ex- Adversary; so’s guitarist Ken Holst, whom also still plays in Compos Mentis; guitarist Tommy Christensen used to play with Slugs and Nurse; bassist Onkel Kusse also plays with Demolition Inc.; and finally drummer Andreas Posselt, whom also plays with Compos Mentis and Mare Crisium) in Aarhus, Danmark, with the intent to combine their inspirations from the old-school of Death and Thrash Metal, Crocell immediately attracted attention with their early, low-quality, rehearsal tapes…and only 4 months after their first rehearsal Danishmetal.dk included the band in their list of most promising Danish Underground acts! The band’s first live appearance was at Aarhus’ Metal Royale Contest, where they won second place with the greatest of ease. Spending the Summer of 2007 writing and rehearsing the necessary material, the quintet then jumped into CB Studios during September to record their full-length album, which was subsequently mixed and mastered by Tue Madsen at his infamous (Aarhus based) Antfarm Studio. While wrapping up the production of the album and looking out for the perfect artist to do the cover artwork, Crocell continued to play the occasional support slot for acts passing through Denmark (most notably, they supported The Burning and Scamp), thus gaining even more lauding criticisms for their raw energy, passion, technical proficiency and varied song writing! For a description of the band’s music, I gladly fall back on that given by the label: “Crocell’s music is built on a solid base of Swedish-style Death and Thrash (The Haunted, Grave, Bloodbath), yet they manage to deviate from that particular path and write songs like “Winter Is Coming” which are more remeniscent of early-day Katatonia. This gives the album a completeness and allows singer Magnus Jörgensen to explore a wider range of emotions in lyrics focused on the issues of remembrance, nepenthe, and the search for the unknown and the incomprehensible…” going in more detailed descriptions with, “…the album contains aggressive beasts like “Behind The Veil” and “Death Knell”, catchy hymns like “The Chosen”, as well as slow-paced, ominous tracks like “Winter Is Coming”…and has a lot to offer any fan of Brutal Metal!”…words I fully agree with! There’s a Doom quality to those slower songs, see, and alternated against those more pacey tracks, you indeed get a very nice variety of songs! And with the addition of some quirky details [a high-pitch scream at the end of album opening and live favourite “Behind The Veil”, a couple of samples (halfway “Death Knell”, and in the opening of “We Are The Dead” – is that Vincent Price – and “The New Blood”) plus a passage of “normal” woe vocals during “Words Of Woe” – how appropriate, eh?] the overall attraction is only increased. Surf to myspace.com/crocelldk for a listening session of the first 6 songs on the (44-minute) 11-track album, fall in love with the guys’ music, go out and buy the album, listen to thàt over and over again…and die happily (or survive, grow stronger from the experience, and wait around in anticipation for the band’s following albums, like me!). Need I emphasize I’ve found yet another act to add to that “Best Albums Of 2008”-list of mine? Oh…I just díd, didn’t I? Of course I did, because I foresee a great future for this band in the Brutal Metal scene! 98/100 Tony. |