Crippled Black Phoenix
The Resurrectionists / Night Raider


4.0
excellent

Review

by menawati USER (94 Reviews)
October 20th, 2012 | 18 replies


Release Date: 2009 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Crippled Black Phoenix still seem to be searching for an identity on this release which veers from space rock to post-rock and folk-indie but they appear eminently capable of melding all these aspects of their sound into a satisfactory whole.

Supergroup 'Crippled Black Phoenix', the brainchild of Electric Wizard drummer Justin Greaves, are one of those acts that are rather difficult to classify. Their style has wandered into several different genres throughout their recording career. 'The Resurrectionists/Night Raider' is a two album box set released in 2009 and finds the group venturing from post-rock and alternative to indie-folk and space rock.

Crippled Black Phoenix seemed to be struggling to find an identity on their debut release 'A Love Of Shared Disasters' in 2007. They seem more assured on this double box set but their sound still treads the waters of multiple genres. The first album of the pair 'The Resurrectionists' contains the more straightforward pieces. The ambient murmurings of opener 'Burnt Reynolds' fall away to reveal the laid-back space/psych rock soundscapes of an early Pink Floyd touched up with a post-rock vibe. 'Rise Up and Fight' continues along the path of retro space rockdom with a bassline and echoing guitar riff which conjure up the image of Gilmour and crew cranking out 'One of these Days' in the dust of Pompeii. The bleak 'Whissendine' with its mournful americana tinged atmosphere could almost serve as a modern day spaghetti western soundtrack and the band's latent folk-indie sensibilities come to the fore on '200 Tons of Bad Luck' which wouldn't sound too out of place on a stripped to the core Arcade Fire album. Crippled Black Phoenix would eventually start moving away from their post-rock sensibilities on '(Mankind) The Crafty Ape' but a melancholic, brooding and minimalistic feel is evident throughout much of the material on this album.

The second album in this box set shows the more experimental side of the band's sound. The 18 plus minutes of 'Time Of Ye Life/Born For Nothing/Paranoid Arm Of Narcoleptic Empire' steps back into psychedelia and features an extended space rock inspired jam section. 'Wendigo' is an ethereal instrumental piece which is quite beautiful in its sparseness and conjures up images of sunsets over empty windswept landscapes with tumbleweeds rolling over the scene. The more experimental interludes include the austere 'Bat Stack' full of heavily tremeloed guitars and mournful violin and the quirky 'Along Where The Wind Blows' with it's waltzing beat and forcibly rough edged vocal delivery. 'Onwards Ever Downwards' opens to the sounds of a fairground haunted house but evolves into a gauzy shifting post-rock song. They save the best till last though with the haunting 'I Am Free, Today I Perished'. Ponderous heavily reverbed piano dreamily weaves its way through a slowly building atmosphere of ambient soundscapes and bleak synth melodies.

The two albums contained in this box set are available as separate releases on the bandcamp page of Crippled Black Phoenix. 'The Resurrectionists' probably contains the most immediate sounding material but don't dismiss 'Night Raider' as it contains some extremely beautiful music. The band still seem to be searching for an identity at times but the retro space rock feel does not jar unnecessarily with their more modern post-rock sensibilities. These albums are definitely worth exploring if you are a fan of their later work on 'I, Vigilante' and '(Mankind) The Crafty Ape'.



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user ratings (70)
4
excellent


Comments:Add a Comment 
menawati
October 20th 2012


16730 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Rise up and Fight - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI6OupafUgY

Wendigo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPkBXdr-csw

200 Tons of Bad Luck - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCbLFRHYNj4

scissorlocked
October 20th 2012


3538 Comments


really liked the older records,especially 200 tons

menawati
October 20th 2012


16730 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

bit of a disguised track by track i spose but thx dude

GiaNXGX
October 20th 2012


5474 Comments


Amazing review man. Just one thing; the " " on Electric Wizard are not nescesary- It's a band name not a song title. Pos'd : ]

GiaNXGX
October 20th 2012


5474 Comments


CBF rules.

menawati
October 20th 2012


16730 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

cheers gia ye u are right ill remove them

JamieTwort
October 20th 2012


26988 Comments


Need to check this one, only heard The Crafty Ape and I, Vigilante.

menawati
October 20th 2012


16730 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

both are fully streamable on bandcamp as separate albums jamie

Aids
October 20th 2012


24542 Comments


I didn't know this existed, gotta check. I thought I, Vigilante was their debut for some reason, I thought wrong.

Jethro42
October 20th 2012


18281 Comments


I like this band very much

JamieTwort
October 20th 2012


26988 Comments


"both are fully streamable on bandcamp as separate albums jamie"

Sweet, I'll probably check them out tomorrow.

SgtPepper
Emeritus
October 21st 2012


4510 Comments


This sounds really cool. I've been getting a lot of good recs for bands lately, need to add this to the list. Good review, Mena, as usual of course. POS'd.

menawati
October 21st 2012


16730 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

thankee kindly

Atari
Staff Reviewer
October 21st 2012


28009 Comments


folk indie hmmmm gonna check this out. (pos)

Digging: Ceres - Magic Mountain (1996?2022)

Mad.
February 28th 2014


4916 Comments


Great work man, totally looking forward to the new one. Burnt Reynolds is fantastic but I Vigilante is definitely their best work. Haven't heard (Mankind) though

porcupinetheater
October 21st 2020


11054 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Ending to Burnt Reynolds is such a stunner

Pikazilla
April 3rd 2022


31198 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Hello

Krpa
April 3rd 2022


333 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Good bump. A great record from a consistently great band.



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