Crucifist - 'Demon Haunted World'

Atypical, well-written black metal referencing a variety of metal’s subgenres from a band that’s existed since 2004 (though they’ve been playing the live circuit, they’ve only released a demo until now).

The pedigree of Crucifist is impressive, including envelope-pushing extreme metal fanatic Dan Lilker on bass, as well as members of the American doom metal outfit Orodruin. But rather than coming across as some kind of glorified side project, Demon Haunted World reveals a unique band creating original and meaningful music.

The palette on which Crucifist paints their black metal includes a variety of colors—doom, sludge, thrash, NWOBHM and old school death metal—blended together in a morose mix that’s conducive for beer chugging and blasphemous behavior. But typical “party” music this is not. Indeed, one would be remiss in failing to acknowledge the ominous aura oozing throughout Demon Haunted World.

It’s not masturbatory at all, but Lilker shows off his skillful playing more than he typically does with his performance, standing as the Geezer Butler to counterpoint John Gallo’s inner Tony Iommi when called for. Gallo’s dynamic playing regularly nods and winks to a classic doom aesthetic, in fact, clearly differentiating Crucifist from the black metal masses. The dark, grooving main riff in “Honor,” on the other hand, embeds itself within the gray matter with enough bare-knuckled potency and volatility to lead to involuntary fits of head-banging.

And other moments saliently jab out, like the experimental noises on “Neon Corpse,” or the brief, passionate melodic vocals on “Witchgrip,” standing at odds with Ron Blackwell’s Nocturno Culto-like singing on the rest of the release. But as nasty as Blackwell’s vocals are, it sounds like an unintentional parody when they aren’t on target.

Simply put, however, it’s hard to imagine that any fan of black metal would not like Demon Haunted World.