Band : Krossbreed

Album title : Carved In Stone

Label : Private

Distributor : Private

Release date : Late February 2008

Release : 5-track demo-CD

Antwerp based Belgian Death Core Rage Thrashers Krossbreed are back yet again with a new demo. For more info on the band, read the reviews I did of their previous efforts (2004's debut demo Down To the Core , posted on 08/09/2005, and sophomore effort Enjoy The Rage posted 06/12/2006), which got them rather favourable media response.

Thanks to an amazing amount of 660 calls (an absolute record in in program's history), Krossbreed 's song "Come Closer" won the Demopoll at national radio Studio Brussels . Also during the Spring of 2007 Krossbreed entered the Belgian competition to gain entry to Wacken Open Air Metal Battle , and were able to convince both jury and audience that they were the only possible band to represent their country. After raging on the stage at WOA , the Thrashers came in 4 th out of the 15 bands that competed. In the meantime, the quartet played several gigs and festivals, one among which was Glaspop in Holland, where they co-headlined with Swiss act Gurd . The organizers of Glaspop liked the Belgian band só much, they invited them to come back a month after the festival, to play for a big and completely ecstatic audience. Krossbreed ended 2007 playing a full house at Moker Metal Fest alongside organizers Moker , Battalion , and The Seventh.

The latter part of 2007 was also when the guys fine-tuned the new songs for their upcoming Carved in Stone mini-CD. In January they entered Little BIG Studio with Peter De Wint (besides having played in such historically important band like Crossfire and Mystery , the guy also has quite a reputation as stage sound engineer, and has toured with the likes of W.A.S.P. , Tourettes , Harem Scarem , and Glenn Hughes ...among others). Musically, the five songs on the mini-album are a continuation of what they brought us on their former demo, with the difference perhaps that there's now a bigger variety in paces. Get your kicks by listening to the 3 opening songs ( "Legacy" , "Leave You Bleeding" , and "Carved In Stone" ) of the mini-album at myspace.com/krossbreed (where you'll also find 2 songs off the previous demo). At the "Video" section of their own website krossbreed.be, you'll find no less than 21 videos (some in the studio with De Wint )...enough to get acqainted, I should say.

For my personaly appreciation of the demo, I must say I was slightly taken aback with Michel 's kinda bad English during "Right Where It Belongs" . Being a somewhat calmer track in parts of the vocals (when also the music cools down somwhat), it shows a side to the singer which was not apparent when he was in more aggressive mode. Due to this small beauty mistake, I cannot rate this demo higher than the previous one...but I won't give it any less points either, you know! I mean, a líttle bit of national chauvenism seems well in place here!

Oh, by the way, it should be interesting to order your own copy as soon as possible, because on demand you can get a bonus DVD containing not only the footage recorded at Wacken Open Air , but also at other stages.

87/100

Tony.