(written by Islander)

In late June of this year something very surprising but very welcome happened: The vanguard industrial death metal band Crawl released their first album in almost 30 years through THC MUSIC/Virgin Music Group.

That album, No Way Out, was the horned flowering of seeds planted when Crawl reunited for a record release show on the occasion of the reissue of their remastered EP Womb, originally released in 1993 under the band’s previous name, Bleed.

Following that August 2019 performance, the band decided to start writing new material, and eventually produced No Way Out — despite being slowed by the challenges of reintegrating after so many years and despite the big roadblock thrown up by the covid pandemic (as well as a lot of subsequent impediments we needn’t detail that created further delays).

All the obstacles undoubtedly spawned a lot of wrenching frustration among the members of Crawl, but for both old die-hard fans and a lot of new ones, the album proved to be well worth the wait. It seemed like the band had picked up right where they left off so many decades ago, without missing a step. As a tremendous example of what we’re getting at, today we’re premiering a visually startling lyric video for the new album’s title track. Continue reading »

Misanthropic-Art‘s cover image for a new split by the Swedish death metal bands Feral and Crawl is decrepit, decaying, and haunting, but also molten, an image of ancient regal grandeur now cracked, strangled by roots sprung from the earth, and littered with skulls of the dead, but something not of the earth pours forth from the eye of an obelisk.

It’s a fitting image for a split by two bands who honor the now seemingly ancient and unhealthy powers of Swedish death metal but in ways that still make it sound molten. Both bands released hellishly good albums five years ago (Feral‘s Flesh for Funerals Eternal and Crawl‘s Rituals), and the split marks a very welcome return, with each band contributing two new songs.

The split is entitled Made As Those Who Are No Longer Alive, Transcending Obscurity Records will release it on September 5th, and what we’re bringing you today is the debut of the second of Crawl‘s two songs — “Vanity“. Continue reading »

You may not know it, but right now you’re in the path of a wrecking machine. It’s growling and rumbling, eagerly waiting for you to push the arrow in the player below so that it can run you over and drag you behind it like so much roadkill.

With that introduction, you’ve probably figured out that despite their name, Crawl aren’t some turgid, sludgy doom band bent on relentlessly lowering your body temperature and suppressing your pulse rate in a semblance of death. No, their music is an amalgam of Swedish-style death metal, crust/punk, and hardcore thats capable of striking with explosive power, as you’ll discover in the song we’re bringing you today, which proclaims “Reject the Cross“. Continue reading »