The Crüxshadows - As The Dark Against My Halo

In the Netherlands we have something called: the law of the handicap of a headstart. This means if you go ahead of the crowd, and don't watch what your competition is doing, they will catch up to you and even get ahead of your game. This is very much the case with The Cruxshadows. While on top of the darkwave at the end of the 90's and beginning of this century, the band never evolved, didn't add new sounds and new production techniques, and basically does everything like it is still 2001, while the rest of the world has evolved, become better and sounding better. And as such The Cruxshadows have become pretty much a joke.

They are still a hard working band who do many live shows, and that is something to be respected. But it would be very nice if that work ethic also streched to the studio because this new Cruxshadows album is very mediocre. Biggest problem is the bad production and mixing. Listening to the album i have the impression i am listening to demo recordings of a mediocre darkwave band. A band with a live reputation like this should think twice before releasing such a productional disaster on its audience.

Beats are weak farts, synths sounds have no power and depth, and the violins sound like they are recorded through bad microphones in a shed. Only Rogue's vocals sound good, but there are moments he can't keep tune, so its not a perfect exercise. Oh, and there is stale powerchord shredding on guitars, but its not too hard mixed in, so is at least bearable.

The songs are largely filler material, and there is no new "Marylin, my bitterness" on it. It is undoubtly The Cruxshadows, so the hardcore fans will probably like it, but the more critical listener will mostly see an emperor without clothes. The Cruxshadows is a band who doesn't want to change, doesn't want to evolve, doesn't want to get better and is only interested in maintaining the status and stature they had in 2001. Unfortunately for them the world has changed and moved forward, and as such we have this amateuristic joke of an album from a once respected band. They seriously need to step up their game if they want to stay competitive. Jan 17 2013