An album ten years in the making, that ought to be something special, don’t you think? But before this ten year hiatus, BLACK CRUCIFIXION used to be quite the name in the (Finnish) Black Metal scene with two of their old members coming from BEHERIT. Times have changed though and the band didn’t take ten years to create a brutal and raw as hell Black Metal record in the vein of their peers, no, rather the result of their labour has resulted in a very melodic and melancholic Doom Rock/Metal record, sometimes borderlining Heavy and Gothic Metal.

It by no means disappoints me, even though it was not what I had expected. Just about everything on this album works, all sounds great, it’s just a pity that the band is unable to hold on to the truly brilliant moments for a long time. In particular I am a fan of the vocals of Forn. They are sung fully clean and it’s like a cross between MY DYING BRIDE vocals and a non-cynical Peter Steele. If combined with emotional guitarwork that still has a nice rough sound to it at times, there’s already a great start. This guitar playing is varied, sometimes it’s just pretty simple Doom riffs, at other times there are Traditional Heavy Metal harmonies as well as truly melancholic riffs, not to mention the frequent acoustic parts.

Also to refrain things from getting boring, the drums sound very cool and not straightforward at all. No simple beats but pretty improvising and jamming drumming is present far from getting over the top. But just like with most parts of this CD, you do really get the idea that every part of the album is really well thought of. Of course, if you take ten years, that’s not too much to ask, but still, they very much succeed in creating an original, fresh and evocative piece of music.

(Online January 14, 2007)