Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Crionics - Armageddon's Evolution - 2005 - Candlelight Records

Track Listing1. Arrival Of Non Parallel Aeons 2. Final Inversion 3. Armageddons Evolution 4. Chant Of Rebel Angels (Intro) 5. FFF (Freezing Fields Of Infinity) 6. Xenomorphized Soul Devoured 7. Disconnected Minds 8. Celestial Interfence 9. Black Manifest (The Sermon To The Masses) 10. Dept 666 11. Loss & Curse Of Reverence, The

The Polish metal scene has proven to be a fertile breeding ground for high quality black and death metal acts. Granted, probably not the most groundbreaking scene in the known universe; it seems like all of Poland have maybe 5 or 6 albums amongst them. Vader had "Reign In Blood". Sceptic had Death's "Individual Thought Patterns" and "Symbolic". Lost Soul had "Covenant" and "Blessed Are The Sick". Behemoth had "Dark Medieval Times", but traded it for a Pete Sandoval drumming instructional video and "Corpsepaint For Dummies", 2nd Edition. Decapitated were too young to buy albums for themselves, so they had to borrow "Reign In Blood" and "Covenant" from Vader and Lost Soul.

Now, don't take it like I'm "playa hatin". After all, plagiarism is the biggest form of flattery. In fact, some of my all time favorite bands never had an original idea in their heads, but are able to take someone else's idea and run with it. Without Judas Priest, there would be no Slayer. Without Autopsy, there would be no Entombed or Dismember. Without Celtic frost, there would only be like five metal bands left on this planet.

To be perfectly frank, it's how it is, and how it should be. Metal has always been this way. Metal is not as much about the conceptual as it is about the visceral. The "idea" isn't as important as the conviction in which that idea is conveyed.

Honestly, if I were to judge Crionics new album on a scale where I had to weigh originality in as a factor, then "Armageddon's Evolution" would get pretty low marks. This album is essentially just an amalgamation of the last two Emperor discs. In fact, Crionics sounds so much like latter-day Emperor that it's scary. They even do those little pinch-harmonic squeals that Ihsahn was so enamored with.

Here, and like some of their Polish peers, I happen to enjoy the emulation as much as I did the original in the first place. This does not sound like a third rate copycat. This band has made this style all their own. In fact, this is the first time I've enjoyed a symphonic Black/Death Metal hybrid this much since this style was beginning to become in vogue around the turn of the century. Also, it's not too bad having someone to try and fill the void left in Emperor's wake; at least until the reunion.


--Timmy D. 03.08.05



Album Cover-