BANEFYRE

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX unstable rock project by Justin GREAVES (playing in Electric Wizard and Iron Monkey), wanting to play macabre stoner / doomy progressive rock from 2004. Isis with melancholy-post-rock ballads. Known in 2014 as the Pink Floyd of the new millennium, this 12th double album takes its title from the bonfires that consumed the witches and politicians of yesteryear.

CD1: 'Intro / Incantation for the Different' dark intro to the tribal haka, phrasing of incantation that's good Shane Bugbee, witch, artist is the author. 'Wyches and Basterdz' with Belinda singing on a melancholic doomy base that of the Cranberries and 'Zombie', a title in the dark/cold wave metallic vein, eyeing Soen, Katatonia; heady air chaining with 'Ghostland' continuing on a repetitive mantra in Swedish with a Teutonic air, like end of the world 'Mad Max' or 'The Trial' of Pink Floyd; the sound goes on a Scandinavian folk ersatz where mammoths are hunted! Heavy, dark, cold, austere air. 'The Reckoning' continues, a horn scream, shots and the tune of 'Paint It Black' in the back; it also reminds me of Mission, Killing Joke and The Alarm for that fiddle and the Irish military drums; a male voice for the first time brief, a lively skinned hymn where the hunted risks not being who we believe. 'Bonefire' goes on, an even more languid radio edit title, we are at the limit of post dark rock, it's singular, dynamic, the progressive codes are jostled, it's beautiful! 'Rose of Jericho' concludes the first CD on the post rock title, alchemy of Sigur Ros rock and dark Mono, Explosions In The Sky for the choirs, the stretched notes, the trumpets coming to roar in a musical maelstrom. A prog sound going for the 80s or 70s that goes up, down, it gives chills. 5'30'' and break doom, a bit of The Cult, New Model Army with the Black Noodle Project spirit; it's heavy, aggressive, progressive, on The Cure period 'Disintegration'.

CD 2: 'Blackout77' delves deep into stoner post-rock, heavy doomsday sound, New York power outage and looting. A throwback to the 80s with journalist voice-over, primary doom riff, Killing Joke and Soen in memory and layers of cold-wave synths. 'Down the Rabbit Hole' chained again, we are of course a concept; melancholic guitar arpeggio for a gothic rock where Belinda uses her vibrant Lana Del Rey voice; twilight atmosphere with expressive pads, assured post spleen. 6 minutes and the second phase on Mission, hypnotizing air until the arrival of crows and 'Everything Is Beautiful but Us' continues on the same momentum with a positive musical gap, surprising fresh air at this moment of the album; 'The Pilgrim' follows and changes rhythm, mood; psychedelic, hypnotic, throbbing, swirling guitars, giant. 'I'm OK, Just Not Alright' and boom, fairground organ over tears to stir up trouble; a dreamlike crescendo with an admittedly spleen, slow, modern progressive piece, solemn and apocalyptic; climatic end before 'The Scene Is a False Prophet' for the post-rock, experimental, avant-garde finale reconciling the soft, icy spleen atmosphere with the metallic sound that befits the decade of 2020; orgasmic climb by kamikaze plane, futuristic drones, rare guitar that recalls the cinematic psyche rock label above all; on an adaptation of 'The Sound Of Silence' and a tune à la Pink Floyd 'Echoes' of the 21st century, amen. 'No Regrets*' on the deluxe edition offers a chilling alternative of distilled melancholy sweetness with post core death metal sound, whatever you wish; snub to the music and its drawers that I ardently contest, in short I return to the simple album.

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX has the merit of bringing us to a current sound, seeming to sign the current state of the world. Progressive post-rock with touches of doom, a touch of gothic-melancholy à la Lacrimosa, à Mission; dramatic, dark, macabre musical universes from which clarity tries to extricate itself. A climate tailor-made by Justin to give his voice to the voiceless, animals, left out of this inhuman world. Oxymoron art music, sound of absolute beauty when the ethereal meets the post and merges to hypnotize us, to create new 2020 sound and stand out from yesterday.