Crawl : " Altar of Disgust"

 Sweden is fixated on worshipping Entombed. Crawl are high priests at this altar. They infuse it with a modern sense of brutality that makes it perhaps even more raw and pounding than Entombed. Sometimes they are too relentlessly hammering for their own good with the second song, as a good example of these excesses. They somewhat redeem themselves with the head-banging "Knieves' which manages to find a marginal balance of extremes. There is certainly a more deliberate riff that challenges the rule which states "cool riffs alone does not a good song make". Feedback squeals, and makes it clear that while their previous albums had more of a crust punk influence, this time around they are more driven by grindcore. 

The more deliberate stomp to " Ethereal Depths" is more effective and makes it the album's best song so far. The vocals are just as guttural as what we have already heard on this album, but they have more purpose here. They experiment and find themselves in a more Neurosis-like place on "Where No Light Escapes" These are the kinds of sounds I think might have worked well incorporated into their other songs. Instead, they hammer at you with more of a grindcore intensity. "Visions of Burning Apparitions" has dense guitars but their crunch is still something that makes it evident they were writing a song. This is not as true for "Until They Crawl". A large part of this is because the vocals are buried. 

There are some moments where they embrace a little more of a black metal feel and this hits like Nails jamming with Goatwhore.  I had to listen to the last time a second time before I realized it was not just an angry passage to the previous song. Thus hinting many of these songs sound the same when just driven by their brutal nature. I will give this album an 8, as there are strong songs, and this is one of the heavier albums you are going to hear so far this year. Was released on Transcending Obscurity Records. 

pst218