Black Crown Initiate – Song of the Crippled Bull

This review is going to end up being a huge pitch to sell/follow a band that really deserves a lot more respect and Facebook “Likes” than what they currently have.  Black Crown Initiate from Reading, Pennsylvania have been a touring monstrosity, playing with titans like Fleshgod Apocalypse, Behemoth, 1349, and a personal favorite, SepticFlesh. Already they’re touring on the Summer Slaughter Canada Club tour with The Faceless, Rings of Saturn, and Fallujah. At their Minneapolis show, they played the entirety of their EP, Song of the Crippled Bull and boy, it was as delicious and as welcoming as a DQ Oreo Blizzard in this absolutely god-awful, horrendous, and torturous Minnesota humidity.

  

Song of the Crippled Bull is only four tracks over twenty minutes but in that short period they manage to really show their creativity and musicianship. The riffs are heavy, technical, melodic, and catchy. The first track, “Stench of the Iron Age” at top volume demands your puny, worthless skull being smashed into the floor repeatedly as tribute to these demons. The bass guitar dominates the interludes while the guitars build an atmosphere and it hits just so fucking right – like you’re at one of those cheap Asian massage parlors if you get what I’m sayin’… The drums, in typical fashion, are fast and precise and do more than just lead. The fills are pretty exciting and the blast beats fit well in every song. The vocals – both harsh and clean – are some of the best I’ve ever heard live. It was truly unreal what the harsh vocalist was capable of doing in person and perhaps sounded better even than on Song of the Cripple Bulld. The cleans sounded nearly the same as in recording which is truly rare these days. Both of their performances are best heard on “The Mountain Top,” the third track on the album, especially towards the end.

 

The only real qualms that exist with the EP is that on the second track, “Ghost She Sends,” the harsh vocalist repeats the verse, the title of the song, a bit too many times. It felt the same way live and felt like “Okay, we get it. Time to move on.” It also led to a somewhat awkward transition to “The Mountain Top.”  But that is it!  No more, no less! Buy their EP on Bandcamp, see them live in Canada or their next tour which will probably very, very soon if their recent habits suggest anything, and “Like” them on Facebook. If you like to claim yourself as finding a band before they get big, this is one to take credit for because in the next few years, you’ll be hearing a lot more about these gentlemen.  P.S. Next time you guys come to Minneapolis, I want to shake your hands and do my best to avoid being a stuttering fanboy. <3 <3 <3  P.S.S. My girlfriend loves the photos with you gentlemen and your cats. She says keep up the cat love.

 

Official Black Crown Initiate Facebook

Written by Cole Olson

Black Crown Initiate – Song of the Crippled Bull
Self-Released
5 / 5