Crippled Black Phoenix have been around since 2004 and have existed with many different lineups, all centred around songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Justin Greaves. Sceaduhelm (Season of Mist) is their 13th full-length album, arriving four years after 2022’s Banefyre.

The 12 songs here are cathartically powerful. Greaves’ drums are monstrously heavy, and distorted guitars often dominate. However, raw power is only part of the story; there is also a delicate streak that runs through the record. Fragile, chiming clean guitar arpeggios often feature, and instruments such as piano and synths add layers of depth and colour. Equally, it is notable that the approach to melody here owes as much to traditional folk music as it does to heavy rock.

Vocal duties are shared between Belinda Kordic, Ryan Patterson, and Justin Storms, who each wrote their own lyrics for the songs they sang on. Kordic’s penetrating howls pierce through the noise of guitars with striking strength. Patterson’s deep and unhurried drawl recalls Mark Lanegan. Storms’ impassioned and anguished cries sit just beneath the surface of the mix, often occurring in harmonised layers.

The tracks on Sceaduhelm mostly run into one another (often with spoken-word samples between songs), so the record works as a single long-form piece. And indeed, the album is greatly effective when digested in a single 66-minute sitting.

Nevertheless, several standout moments epitomise the evocative and stirring nature of Sceaduhelm. The choruses of “Ravenettes,” when Kordic’s soaring vocal melodies are juxtaposed with haunting guitar arpeggios, are fantastically intense and moving. The country-tinged choruses of “No Epitaph — The Precipice,” when Patterson sings “I want to be a better man for you /  Show me how we can go on,” are starkly simple and beautifully executed. Kordic’s gloriously bare vocal melodies on “Hollows End” interact wonderfully with the driving, wall-of-noise music. “Colder and Colder” has Storms chanting “We never had a chance / To have our last dance” on top of steady but aggressive waves of dark folk-inspired textures to epically magnificent effect. “Tired to the Bone” is the album’s most tender moment and features Kordic’s half-whispered tones gliding across Mellotron-infused layers of sweetness. Album closer “Beautiful Destroyer” is one of the record’s heaviest moments; the effect of Patterson’s assured baritone against the jangling arpeggios and pounding drums is terrifyingly potent.

Sceaduhelm is a deeply impactful and affecting record that permeates the psyche with its mysterious aura. It is both darkly alluring and strangely uplifting. This record further cements Crippled Black Phoenix’s status as masters of absorbing, and provocative unconventional contemporary rock music.

Buy the album here:
https://orcd.co/cbpsceaduhelm

8 / 10
DUNCAN EVANS
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