Crippled Black Phoenix – The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature
Release Date: 8th November 2024
Label: Season of Mist
Bandcamp
Genre: Dark Rock, Progressive Rock.
FFO: The Mars Volta, The Samuel Jackson Five, The Dear Hunter.
Review By: Jeff Finch
There are bands out there that are obscenely good at what they do; at crafting compositions that boggle the mind, captivate audiences, and have them begging for more. Crippled Black Phoenix is one of those bands. An introduction into their enigmatic existence with their most recent record Banefyre was enough to have planted a seed in my mind to never forget this band’s name, culminating here with their newest release, a reimagined ride into the mind of the brilliant musicians, putting their own spin on tracks they themselves recorded in the past. It’s Crippled Black Phoneix channeling themselves, and as a newish fan who has never heard these songs previously, this new record The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature can simply act as round 2 into my new-found fandom, as this album reaffirms everything discovered and loved from Banefyre.
With a name like Crippled Black Phoenix, and absolutely zero knowledge beforehand, snagging and listening to Banefyre was both taking a bold chance at something new but also only having a name to go off of to create any preconceived notions; it sounds like a metal band, so there was a bit of hope that this was a metal band I was diving into. Metal though they may not be, dark rock what they’re considered, this metalhead didn’t and doesn’t care: Crippled Black Phoenix occupies a part of the musical mind where different is good, where progressive and unique soundscapes are the norm, not the exception, where the kitchen sink has indeed been used in the recording process, amongst everything else laid to tape, seemingly no moment underrealized or left to just be: averaging over 8 minutes per song throughout, the band performs so adroitly and with such passion that it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what, where, and why a song has you captivated. The purposeful, wandering musical landscapes that take a listener from light instrumentals to spastic rock, restrained notes to walls of sound and seemingly everything in between, couple with the shift in vocalists to generate songs that sound completely removed from their predecessors yet part of a greater whole. Whether a 3-minute interlude or a 13-minute epic, the band never strays too far from home; every song sounds inherently like a Crippled Black Phoenix song, and it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how that is the case: is it the production, is it the commonalities between the songs, is it through osmosis? Quite frankly, it doesn’t matter, because throughout each of these tracks, whether an existing or new fan is listening, the songs just FEEL like they’re by the same brilliant artist, part of the same existence and striving towards the same goal, there’s really no other way to explain it. A four-minute exercise in ambient noise shifts to arena rock guitar riffs to prog rock all within a few moments of each other on Song for the Unloved and, somehow, is performed by the same band that began You Put the Devil in Me with an accordion, a sharp contrast to how opener We Forgotten Who We Are closed out, the latter of which is replete with a dual guitar and synthesizer solo, ripped straight from the 80s and giving us jam band vibes as it closes out an eleven-minute track. There is a brief pause, silence in the air, before jarring but oh so captivating accordion mixes with sci-fi noises to bewilder us but also keep us from wanting to go anywhere on You Put the Devil in Me.
Flawless transitions from hymnal choir to 70s rock, complete with saxophone, there’s so many moments that feel improvisational because of how seamlessly the music flows, producing groove for days, being whisked away into the clouds, enveloped by the music and all of its separate pieces that form to create epic soundscapes, taking listeners for a journey rather than just providing them with good music with which to pass time. None of the songs on this album feel their length; one track over 11 minutes, one over 14 minutes, grand in scope and a bit overwhelming from a surface level viewpoint, but when in the throes of the multiple layers of sounds, it’s as if no time has elapsed at all. The crescendos they hit out of nowhere are released with such gusto and energy so as to feel like an entirely separate entity has taken over. Closer Blizzard of Horned Cats transitions from a contemplative soft-instrumental piece, piano and ambience the focus, to a bombastic display of power release, a crushing percussive performance alongside an extended guitar solo, the entire last half of the song kept at a punishingly energetic fever pitch to close out the album, a wild roller coaster of genuine musical brilliance having just run its course and a listener trying to absorb all they’ve heard.
Though this may not be a “new” album in the technical sense, the re-recorded nature of these tracks has helped introduce a newer fan to older tracks in a way the band sees as more indicative of their present reality, the Crippled Black Phoenix of now having changed since their inception but never losing their identity, and feeling as though a modern touch up was a good idea. Had I not done more digging, it’s likely I never would’ve known these were re-recorded tracks and simply stood as an album of new music. Even if you’ve heard the originals of these songs, it’s hard to not recommend this album, if for no other reason than to see how the band chose to represent their past selves. New fans should be thrilled, as there are a handful of tracks here, over an hour in length, that shows the band firing on all cylinders, just waiting for the rest of their discography to be discovered.
The band will also release an accompanying covers album, Horrific Honorifics Number Two(2), on November 8th, to celebrate the 20-year existence of Crippled Black Phoenix.
(4.5 / 5)
