The Crinn Archives - NO CLEAN SINGING

THE CRINN: “SHADOWBREATHER”

Apr 252015

(Austin Weber reviews the new album by The Crinn.)

Last year at NCS I helped premiere a track by Minnesota-based mathcore band The Crinn called “Endless”. At that time, their upcoming record, Shadowbreather, had no release date. It wasn’t until very recently that the band announced that Shadowbreather will be coming out on April 28 — and it began streaming in full yesterday.

Sometimes you run into metal records that are unusually strange or mindfuckingly insane from a rhythm or tempo angle, and then, even more rarely, you run into records like Shadowbreather that do both of those things. Having had a chance to sink into the record early, courtesy of the band, I’ve had some time to decipher its nigh-impenetrable shifts and explore its labyrinthine layers over a multitude of listens. I still come away from the experience dazed yet bug-eyed, but now I feel it makes more sense.

The violent and catastrophic nature of their rhythms, riffs, and rasps collide into a mental bludgeoning with a soft side; there is a psychedelic dimension to Shadowbreather that is new to The Crinn’s music. The occurrences of this new element in their sound are not merely segues. More often than not, The Crinn infuse them within chaotic and frenetic math-grind, somehow achieving a cerebral, trippy quality that may not sound right on paper, yet works so well throughout the album. I never guessed that I’d ever be writing about psychedelic mathcore in the first place, but I’m down with it after hearing how The Crinn pull it off so effortlessly on Shadowbreather inside moments of sheer mania and murder.

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE CRINN — “ENDLESS”

Premieres 7 Responses »

Oct 222014

(Austin Weber prepared the following introduction to our premiere of a new song from the forthcoming second album by The Crinn from Saint Paul, Minnesota.)

The further and further The Crinn have gone in their career, the more ideas they’ve incorporated in their songwriting and the more their music has grown in a progressive sense. Not content to merely overwhelm you or shatter you with speed and ferociousness, in their current state the band’s progressive inclinations have found a natural nest within their overall full-throttle, brain-scrambling, unpredictable intensity. With these elements co-existing within the same tracks, the band display a rare duality.

While The Crinn were previously signed to Nuclear Blast Records for the release of their debut album in 2010, they have returned to independent status and are releasing their new album Shadowbreather by themselves. Currently, no release date has yet been set, and the band are still in the midst of deciding whether to do a crowdfunding campaign in order to make a physical version of the album a reality. But one song from the album has already premiered (featured here), and today we bring you another.

It’s important to preface the discussion of this song with what I just mentioned regarding the cohesive collision of abject chaos and experimental progressive ideas in The Crinn’s sound. Otherwise, you may find yourself lost in a state of shock, as “Endless” is a head-spinning affair of unique brilliance, one that scrambles your brain hard enough to make returning to normal reality a difficult and disorienting task. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SUNBURSTER, THE SLOW DEATH, THANATOS, BARING TEETH, THE CRINN

Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 7 Responses »

Oct 212014

I got carried away with a lot of rifftastic death metal malignancy in yesterday’s round-up’s, so I thought I’d move in more varied directions today. The following new and newish songs are among those I found in my trawling through the interhole yesterday, after siphoning off the effluent that would sicken you, plus one find by my comrade in arms Austin Weber. Prepare for brain spasms and spinal trauma.

SUNBURSTER

I enjoyed the hell out of this Philadelphia band’s last release, the 2013 EP SolarBipolar (reviewed here). Just to give you a flavor of my reaction to it (and because if I don’t quote myself, who will?), here’s an excerpt from my review:

This is the kind of music that will give your neck muscles a real workout while dosing you with a narcotic addictiveness that will pull you back for another hit, and another. I know. I have plenty of other things to do, but I’ve been jamming this little three-song smasher over and over again. Continue reading »

MORE 2010 SICKNESS (Part 3)

Forthcoming Albums, Listmania, Metal News No Responses »

Mar 312010

We’re now a full three months into 2010, and it’s time for our third update to the list of forthcoming new albums we posted on January 1. (See the original list here, the first update here, and the second update here.) Below is a list of still more projected new releases that we didn’t know about on January 1 or at the time of our last two updates — and the new sickness is still spreading in epidemic proportions.

Once again, we’ve cobbled together news blurbs about bands whose past work we’ve liked, or who look interesting for other reasons. Needless to say (but we’ll say it anyway), these are bands that mostly fit the profile of music we cover on this site.

So, in alphabetical order, here’s our list of cut-and-pasted blurbs from various sources since our last update about forthcoming new releases. Look for the bands you like and put reminders on your calendar. Or if you’re old school like us, just get em tattooed someplace you can see without a mirror (because reading stuff backwards is hard).

ANAAL NATHRAKH: “U.K. extreme metallers ANAAL NATHRAKH have commenced work on material for a new album, tentatively due before the end of the year.”

ANNIHILATOR: “Canadian thrash metal veterans ANNIHILATOR will release their 13th, self-titled album in Europe on May 17 via Earache Records, in Japan through Marquee and in Australia via Riot Entertainment.”

ARISE: “A two-minute video trailer for The Reckoning, the fourth album from Swedish death/thrashers ARISE, can be viewed below. Due on March 22 through Regain Records, the CD features guest appearances by Jonas Kjellgren (SCAR SYMMETRY, ex-CARNAL FORGE), Mikael Stanne (DARK TRANQUILLITY) and Jake Fredém (NOSTRADAMEUS).” [NOTE: the album is now scheduled for release on April 6.]

(more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »