Ixone
Do you ever stumble across an album that makes you wonder what you’re actually listening to? Cross Bringer got me into that exact situation with its latest effort, Healismus Aeternus. Given that it’s an international band, I expected the music to be a blend of different sounds and atmospheres, as it is generally the case with such projects. That, along with the genre and sound description raising a few question marks, made me go into this album with a healthy dose of skepticism. However, I was, albeit unexpectedly, pleasantly surprised.
To put it simply, if you’re a fan of dissonance in your Metal, this is something you’d probably take a great liking to. Healismus Aeternus is full to the brim with distortion, electronic elements, harsh ambience, and some noise textures here and there. All of these work really well with the slow tempos and apocalyptic mood of the record. Dealing with themes such as self-discovery and spiritual confusion, the album ends up feeling like the soundtrack of an existential crisis, teeming with the dilemmas and struggles of the modern life. I am starting to believe that this is actually what got me to enjoy it—the fact that it is so relatable in the way it portrays society being consumed by technology, and that this is something probably everyone has stopped to think about at some point in their lives.
Going back to that genre tag I mentioned in the introduction, I feel that it is important to mention that it is more or less incomplete. While it is true that the majority of the material is Blackened Hardcore, the amount of “foreign” sounds included seems to be left aside. Why is this significant? Because not a single song on this release sounds like your average Blackened Hardcore band. Tracks such as “The Vessel” do a great job in highlighting the violent nature of the music, which is far beyond genre standards, alternating quickly between fast and slow segments, all while the electro-noise wall tears through the guitars. The vocal performance is also nothing short of impressive, including a unique brand of screams that fall somewhere between high and mid in terms of pitch, once again blending the defining aspects of both main genres. At times, the vocal technique blends with the distortion wall, creating a strange, claustrophobia-inducing effect.
Although overall an ambitious record, there’s no doubt that there are a couple of elements that don’t really work in its favor, the most obvious one being the occasional clean vocals, featured on tracks such as “Perpetual Servantship”. Not only do they come off as greatly out of place, but they are also located in the most tense moments musically speaking, which makes the chaotic, violent nature of the music not hit as hard as it was supposed to. In my opinion, it would have made more sense to have those clean singing moments in the intro of the album, but I may be off on this since I’m not that familiar with Hardcore song structures. Besides this, I am generally not a fan of extensive usage of electronic, cyber-inspired effects, but in this context, it makes more sense to have them than it doesn’t, so, not as much of an issue as I initially thought.
To conclude, Healismus Aeternus may be a bit of a hard pill to swallow, particularly for those unfamiliar with Cross Bringer and similar bands. Nevertheless, it is an undoubtedly compelling piece of music that deserves a careful listen.
Label: Silent Pendulum Records
Release date: February 21, 2025
Website: https://crossbringer.bandcamp.com
Country: Russia
Score: 3.5/5.0
Metal Eclipse Reviews 