To Cross an Angel is a band I had never heard of before. So I looked them up on facebook and I saw that they have only about 400 likes , so I think I think it’s fair to assume that this is a local band that just recorded their first album. These guys are really Christ-centered, and it shows. All their lyrics contain bible verses, or at least bold proclamations. Their goal is to “reach those who have not heard the Word of Christ, and celebrate with those who have”.
The first actual song “This World Is Not ours” begins immediately with hard-hitting guitars and screams. It does not leave you waiting, because you are immediately thrown into a pit of heaviness. The vocals vary from eery, raspy screams to gluttural growls. The guitars play a lot of harmonic parts, and tend to get more melodic during the chorus as well. After a guitar solo comes one of the most chaotic, but awesome sounding breakdowns I’ve heard.
The beginning of “Desperate Prayer” comes with a guitar solo that gives you a very short break of all the heaviness of the previous track. After the solo however, things get heavy again and the band plays some abstract and weird sounding guitar parts while the vocalist screams his lungs out. After that, I was kind of surprised. Suddenly there are clean vocals sung by a woman, but it sounds like it has been recorded in a bathroom. It doesn’t really fit in with the music, and to make things worse, I could only hear her through my left speaker. After the chorus I am treated with some blast beats and more chaotic guitars, but all of a sudden, there’s silence. The silence is broken by the bridge which is filled with electronic sounds. It is clear that this band is trying to experiment, but this kind of experimentation just strikes me as odd.
The fourth track “Eyes of Recognition” begins with harmonic guitars dueling each other, later accompanied by some pounding drums. The vocalist starts screaming and the guitarist plays some of the most experimental leads I’ve heard so far in the album. There’s some clean singing again during the chorus, but this time it fits in a lot more with the music. And this time they’re sung by a man. After the second chorus, a piano takes the cake and finishes the song. If you don’t know it yet, I’m a sucker for pianos in metal. I love it.
“Saprophyte” immediately begins with chugging guitars and a solo on top of it, which make a great intro. Before the chorus starts, there’s a man singing, but his voices edges to screaming, which I love. During the chorus, there are a woman and a man both trying to sing in harmony. I love vocal harmonies, I really do. But it was really hard to listen to. The vocals seem like they are off key when you listen to the guitars. It just doesn’t mix well. Something just doesn’t sound right. I can’t tell if it’s the womans voice, or if the guitars are out of tune. But the production of the album is probably to blame as well.
The beginning of “HisStory” already bombards you with heavy sounding guitars. The vocalist comes in and the tempo of the song raises. During the breakdown, the female vocalist is singing. But this time the singing fits in quite well and adds to the atmosphere. It makes the song sound a bit eery, though. This song contains the most heavy breakdown I’ve heard on this album, with some awesome lead guitars on top of it.
Overall: I’m going to be very honest here, but the production on this album is not really what it should be. That made this album harder to enjoy. However, the drums and guitars are the best part of the album, as they are very creative. Besides that, the screams and growls are just spot on. This band has potential and room for growth. They just need some better recording equipment, work on their clean vocals and find a good producer. I feel like they have not been given a true chance to show just what they’re capable of, and I think that they deserve that.
Rating: 5/10
Written by Geert Prins
Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. This World Is Not Our Own
3. Desperate Prayer
4. Eyes of Recognition
5. Saprophyte
6. HisStory
7. Black Dove
8. Something Like Superman
9. The Fire
10. Forgiveness
Band members:
Terran Morrow – Bass
Luke Miller- Drums
Lana Morrow – Clean/Scream Vocals
Record Label: Sanctus Gladius Records, October 2014
Discography:
“This World Is Not Ours” (2014)
Weblinks: Website / Facebook / Twitter
Buy the album here:
Holland: First Paradox
Norway: Nordic Mission