Crippled Black Phoenix – Ellengæst

I couldn’t have found a better fitting band to dust off the ashes of this blog. With that aside let’s get on with it.

Crippled Black Phoenix (CBP) is weird for me because it’s one of those bands that I let the metal press form an opinion for me. Constant mediocre to low scores on my favorite review sites led me to think it’s not worth the time to listen. How wrong is that? Feel free to bash me in the comments.

With the release of the latest CBP album came the stream of advance track shares on my Facebook. So I decided, fuck it, let’s check it out. But first I asked a good friend whom I knew was into this band, if this is a good moment to get into CBP. He wisely directed me to the previous effort from the band, 2018’s Great Escape. And I got HOOKED badly.

After a few spins of that album, this is the mental picture I had of the band. Some of you may know it from my social media, now here it is in english, hopefully the same message gets across.

A “blunt” conversation:

– Dude, wait, hear me out, what would you say to a band that is…like… Yann Tiersen combined with Pink Floyd and Depeche Mode.
– …. Yeah, right ….
– Wait, wait, it gets better: on the last album they have a ton of guest vocalists that have nothing to do with each other.
– … Like who?
– Well … Vincent from Anathema for example.
– … And?
– Like Ghaal from Gorgoroth.
– Wait what? The “…… SATAN” guy?
– Yep! Even better, an older album has a horse floating over some mountains on the cover.
– … Sure, and I bet the band name has some handicapped mythological creature in it.
– WHOA! How did you know? *mind blown*
– <long inhalation, followed by the sound of a held breath> … yep, I think that would work …
– … yeah, and the lyrics must be … like … fucking profound and about trauma and shit.
– …yeah dude.
– …and a trumpet, gotta have a trumpet!
– …mhmm…

Now on to Ellengæst, which was released on October 9 2020. My friend was right, this is not a good stating point for CBP because their vocalist since 2013, Daniel Anghede, had left the band right before the recording. Henceforth the many guest singers. But, while not representative of the band’s discography as a whole, it’s one hell of a record.

An interesting fact: Ellengæst is an old english word that also appears in Beowulf to describe Grendel. Ellengaest is compound word. Ellen = strength, gast = spirit. It’s similar to giest (guest) and is tempting to see it as a race memory of a time when a guest (or strangers) could be a mysterious threat.

I will let you explore the nooks and crannies of this album, without spoiling too much. Just know that it’s an essential listen.

Here is the complete list of artists performing on this record, according to the official Bandcamp album page:

Recording line-up
– Justin Greaves
– Belinda Kordic
– Helen Stanley
– Andy Taylor
– Ben Wilsker

Guest musicians
– Vincent Cavanagh (Anathema) – House of Fools
– Gaahl (Gaahls Wyrd) – In the night
– Suzie Stapleton (Solo artist) – Cry of Love
– Ryan Patterson (Fotocrime) – Cry of Love
– Jonathan Hulten (Tribulation, solo) – The invisible past

What surprised me is that Vincent Cavanaugh sings on the first song, and I didn’t recognize him right away, even though I’ve been listening to the man since The Silent Enigma. My sincere hope is that since Anathema is, sadly, on hold, he officially joins CBP, since his pipes are made for this type of music. Also Belinda Kordic’s vocals are superb and the glue that holds the album’s vision together.

I will leave you with some songs and as usual the Bandcamp embeds so you can support CBP, now when they need it the most (pandemic and all…).

TRIGGER WARNING: the band has some very graphic and emotional videos. If you are not in a good place mentally, just stick to the lyric videos. You have been warned!