CROW CVLT - INFERNO

If you were to describe CROW CVLT to me as a witch house project with rave and IDM influence I wouldn’t be convinced based on the opening track to their most recent album “INFERNO”. ‘Pilot’, which it so happens to be called, is something much more ethereal and spiritual, like a sad, cinematic song that play as a legion burns down a hopeless village all because their king told them to do so. But that feeling washed away once the second track ‘I HAVE LOST THE WAY AGAIN’ gets into the thick of things. A small ambient build-up leads to witchy wall of synths and a bit of a trap beat; spooky EDM at its finest to say the very least. Nothing too long, production’s decent; a perfect hype train that leaves me wanting more when the final second passes.

‘DNA’ enters the digital realm of cyberspace with glitchy hums being lost amidst electronic keys that sound like they’re straight out of an 8bit album. These keys take place of the guitar in a rock song, the strums now analog tools at the artists’ disposal. ‘HABITS’ morphs into traditional witch house territory complete with faded vocals, dragging beats, and emotional synths while ‘FIDELIO’ utilizes some light drum’n’bass mechanics aside background chanting. I feel a bit offput by this one as the quickened percussion does not match the slower chants. 

Light xylophone rhythms permeate the air as ‘REACH’ reaches our ears; another one of CROW CVLT’s more cinematic songs; nothing danceable or upbeat about this one. More or less something I could see being used in a movie scene to heighten tension or mystery. What I would typically hear in 8bit music comes forth once more in ‘JOHRDANNE’ before being combined with CROW CVLT’s witch house ways as ‘BLACKOUT’ dives into the rave focused area of the band. ‘OPIUM’ lies back down into the classic witch house tenets. Not so much with the dragging, heavy beats, but a much more relaxed sense of self. Ethereal whispers, chillout vibes. 

‘BRAZIL’ is an interesting experiment, but one that both does and doesn’t pay off. On one hand I applaud the experimentation, but the vocals don’t quite fit the rhythm of the track; I think this track would have served better as an instrumental more than anything. ‘LAST RESORT’ is basically what I wanted to see out of ‘FIDELIO’. A decent track blending witch house with drum’n’bass without any mismatched vocals holding back the fun. While they blend back to standard tactics with ‘FORFEIT’ (complete with stock gun racking sounds), ‘VALUES’ comes in as what comes off to me as a creepy bedtime lullaby. 

‘DISAPPEAR’ plays with some more glitchy vocals, drum’n’bass lines, and brighter synths leading to a multi-tiered track that’s not easy to pin down. The title track ‘INFERNO’ falls in line with the cinematic embrace a couple of other tracks also clung unto. The final track is a bit of a letdown; reversed sound effects and overblown synths that grow into a bit of a noise wall. Not exactly noise / ambiance, not exactly witch house, something in the middle that’s attempting to be transformative, while at the same time failing to do either. 

Where CROW CVLT can grow lies within two things: quality over quantity and vocals. Quality over quantity meaning that there’s a lot of room for the band to cut tracks here and there on “INFERNO”. Get rid of the fat, the standard, the boring, what’s expected of the genre and keep what’s unique and different. Also, the vocals call for some work; where vox were present on the album, they failed to match the beat. Work on that so next time they’re done right and well. 

The good news is that these are minor complaints as the rest of the album is done quite well. Probably one of the more standout albums in recent memory when it comes to witch house, as production is good and beats are solid. Keep adding members to your cult, CROW CVLT.