The crossover between sub-genres of metal and hardcore have brought some truly intense listening experiences over the decades, and recently formed Cross Bringer are a perfect example of that. Split between Russia and Belgium, the group takes frantic and unrelenting hardcore and merges it with some black metal and sludge elements on their debut The Signs of Spiritual Delusion. It’s a quick burst of all-out darkness and explosive energy, coming in at under half an hour in length, and while there is still room for the band to further build upon in the future they’re still likely to turn heads even at this early stage.
Two bands that immediately come to mind when listening to Cross Bringer are Oathbreaker and Celeste, as there’s a similar jaggedness to the sound on The Signs of Spiritual Delusion and the instrumental layers reach similar layers of density. But where those two groups often moved into sludge and doom directions when they weren’t pummeling you with fast and punchy hardcore, this band injects a considerable amount of black metal into their sound and keeps the tempos relatively fast-paced even when the song lengths sprawl out towards the six or seven minute mark. The shorter tracks channel some of the same brute force and constant shifts that bands like Converge are known for, with the riffs weaving the dissonance and bleakness of black metal over top of this pummeling base. But it’s the two pieces that make up almost half of the album’s run-time that leave the biggest impression, as on these songs Cross Bringer twists and turns with ease and provides brief periods of calm alongside immense instrumentation. “Torture Incantation” is easily my favorite, as it has dissonance and abrasiveness that bring French black metal to mind while still retaining elements that tie back to the group’s hardcore and powerviolence roots. The only element I’m not fully sold on are the mellower soundscapes found on opener “Prayer” and “The Sun Ritual’, as while they suit the overall atmosphere they don’t build up to quite as dramatic and haunting levels as I would’ve hoped. It could be that they’d be given more room to expand on a slightly longer album but given the brevity of The Signs of Spiritual Delusion my focus remained entirely on the crushing, intense moments.
Although the guitar tone and instrumentation as a whole may be blisteringly intense, the vocals help to put Cross Bringer’s debut over the top. Aleksey Aleksandrov has one of those high-pitched screams/shrieks that is so jagged and in your face that it’ll likely send chills down your spine in the first few minutes. It’s this element of the music that reminds me the most of Celeste, as Aleksandrov hits similar pitches and the way that he’s able to tower above the dense layers of sound make The Signs of Spiritual Delusion hit as hard as possible. There’s something truly appealing about this type of vocal performance when there’s so much darkness and aggression coming from each word that it can almost feel suffocating, and this band nails that feeling. While others in this genre have gone towards some singing or other melancholic elements in between all the rage, for now Cross Bringer remains focused on the chaos.
Given that the band has only existed since last year, it’s impressive to hear how fully formed some of the ideas on this debut are. The bleakness and pitch-black nature of the black metal tonality that comes together to meet the pummeling and constantly shifting hardcore is appealing, and there’s substance here to keep listeners coming back. With that being said, I’m not fully sold on the quieter, ambient moments just yet and think there’s room to further develop them so they reach just as suffocating levels as the rest of the material. Cross Bringer also seems to reach another level when their songs stretch outwards, so unlike many of their peers they can actually justify longer tracks alongside the shorter bursts. It’s a strong first showing that hints at even better things still to come, so strap in and prepare to face the destruction. The Signs of Spiritual Delusion is available on Consouling Sounds.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg
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