So this Black Crucifixion CD EP, "The Fallen One of Flames", shows up from Paragon Records (it's on a different label in Europe) when I'm in the midst of a major black metal frenzy, but my insanely finicky nature almost gets the best of me when I open the booklet only to find stupid lineup names like "Blacksoul", "Fornicator", and "Sodomatic Slaughter"—not to mention some of the most retarded band photos I've ever laid eyes upon. Needless to say, I almost refused to listen to this as a result. But after a few days I figured, "Shit, it's black metal... you often can't escape that cheesy shit." So I popped it in. And what do you know? This is actually fairly enjoyable midpaced to moderately fast, raw, old school black metal.
This is actually the Finnish band's 1991 demo, remastered by the band with liner notes reflecting upon the time period. It's basically three tracks with "Intro"/"Outro" ambient selections performed by Holocausto Vengeance from Beherit. A decent chunk of what I've read about this band cites them as an influence on Beherit, but that doesn't really make much sense since Black Crucifixion played their first show opening for Beherit (Among other notables like Impaled Nazarene, Sentenced, and Amorphis—what a first show!), and the liner notes indicate Beherit as "an inspiration and a help in the beginning". Who knows? I prefer the slower and more atmospheric end of the material on this demo, namely the awesome 7+ minute "Flowing Downwards", but since that takes up a huge chunk of the EP I'm not posting that track since I want people to actually buy records.
Black Crucifixion "Goddess of Doom"
Make no mistake, though: Someone should still smack whoever put the fuckin' lame band photo on the back cover of this thing, as it destroys the otherwise tactful aesthetic of the outer packaging. The band even admits in the liner notes that they were "not the devils that they portrayed themselves as" (no shit, just look at the hokey pictures), which is actually a refreshing confession, I respect that a lot, but... shit, man... don't nail the point home at the expense of visual impact, you know?
If you're into this kind of thing, pick it up:
Apparently the band has a couple of other releases (one of which is also posthumous) that I should probably look into as well. Ahhh, black metal...
Comments
amazing album, good to see it in print again, their other release is pretty strong too (promeathean dawn or some such thing) if you can track it down.
They also claim to be the most northern black metal band(actually hailing from inside the artic circle)
11.10.2005 | By A.
great stuff!
11.16.2005 | By Anonymous
great stuff!
they’re very northern for sure, ha…
11.16.2005 | By Anonymous
“A decent chunk of what I’ve read about this band cites them as an influence on Beherit, but that doesn’t really make much sense since” [...]
You’re right. It’s obvious that Beherit were more like the big brother to Black Crucifixion. As far as I can remember they both came from the town of Rovaniemi from northern Finland, perhaps shared a member or two as well. Beherit were the first Finnish black metal band and quite influential in the blossoming black & death metal scene over here…
11.22.2005 | By Niko
Check out the album. They sell it at the labels web site and the delivery was fast.
11.29.2005 | By Anonymous