CD review: 'In Light of Dark Days' - Queen Of The Moshpit

The Crawling came crawling from Northern Ireland and they just released this 3-track-EP as first listenable vital sign – one year after their first live show ever. Slow Death Metal, that’s what they call this style and “they” means three gentlemen who are well-known for decades in the local underground scene for playing somewhat faster tunes. The collaboration with Grindscene Records didn’t come by chance.

I love Death Metal and I love slow music but Slow Death Metal as played by The Crawling is kind of half-assed. Neither has it the melancholic beauty of My Dying Bride, nor is it a huge juggernaut like a slower Bolt Thrower (as Panzerkreuzer is). “The Right to Crawl” is nice as long as they do not step on the gas (the fast parts are just boring) – it started very promising, though. „End Of The Rope“ coils round a single riff and there are some enjoyable mid-tempo banger parts but it doesn’t sparkle either. “Catatonic”, on the other hand, is marvelous. Finally it’s getting really slow, abysmal and hypnotic, even that double bass part can’t discompose the catatonic feeling. These 8 1/2 of almost 20 minutes total running time are truly delightful and I really hope, this is the direction The Crawling will go in the future.

6.5/10

First published in German on Zephyr’s Odem. And it seems like the boss was a bit confused: this record was reviewed earlier by another lady of the team and she rated it 9/10)

Comments

CD review: 'Anatomy Of Loss' - Demonszone

ANATOMY OF LOSS is the debut album from the semi-sober Irish death metal band THE CRAWLING. A promising band with an even more promising album. After the release of their three track EP IN LIGHT OF DARK DAYS, I have been looking forward to hearing this record. In terms of style and sound, this album is very much more of the same. There is a vast selection of death metal riffing, each one being as catchy as the other thanks to having more emphasis on the rhythm rather then following the idiotic trend of how fast and extreme they could play. When the group aren’t thrashing out on their instruments, they are playing slow heavy chords that is best described as doom metal. These songs start off slow (a little too slow for my personal taste) and had they been a little longer, they would have been a little tedious. But THE CRAWLING seem to have enough common sense to realise that each song requires a good hook and just when things slow down, they burst into life with some mean riff. Both st...

CD review: 'Anatomy Of Loss' - GBHBL

Anatomy of Loss is all about mixing black metal vocals & that feeling of cold isolation with doom-laden riffs & beats. An Immaculate Deception brings all those sounds & adds a dirty, raw sound resulting in a strong opener. Let down only by its length, it gets a bit repetitive after a while. Poison Orange is a serious cut above though, its riffs dipped in the blackest tar & vocals ripped straight out of the devil’s mouth. This is some seriously doom-heavy stuff & even when things are sped up it just results in an even harder sound. What makes Anatomy of Loss such a surprising listen though is the variety in music on show. Acid on my Skin has a lovely upbeat melody only changing stance to a heavier effort during the choruses. It’s got some of the best drumming on the entire album & the vocals are simply amazing here. A hell of a song, a hell of an album. The variety continues with the stunning All Our Failings & The Right to Crawl. A duo that keep things me...

CD review: 'Anatomy Of Loss' - Glacially Musical

Before I go to sleep at night, reading is typically the last thing I do. The current book is Don't Try This At Home by Dave Navarro. There was a conversation in that book about Steve Vai . Mr. Vai is a very divisive figure in the musical world. That's not to be meant as an insult. It's just that there are a few camps here. Many folks, even some instrumental bands I've interviewed, have said how do you connect to Steve Vai? The prevailing opinion amongst them is that Vai is simply flexing his muscles for 90 minutes each night. Well this is something that a goodly number of metal bands do each night. There's the constant blast beats that run concurrently with the unchanging demonic vocals. Distort the bass from note one and what we have is a preening tosser on the beach. For the record, anyone who thinks that about Steve Vai simply hasn't heard, they may have listened, but haven't heard. Anyway, The Cawling hail from one of the four countries in the United...

THE CRAWLING

Search This Blog