Falling backwards into a spiral of dreams, nightmares, and memories—illuminated spots in total darkness—while exploring every emotion along with them, a psychological journey is created. Combined with a soundtrack of various styles and voices experiencing layered sounds that evolve, ever swirling and pulling listeners in is Sceaduhelm. Crippled Black Phoenix was founded over twenty years ago and the band continues to create fresh albums while keeping their own special brand of weird. Slow builds and manufactured tension take the spotlight with this particular release. Sceaduhelm is vulnerable, dynamic, and hypnotizing—just try and look away.
Every track here has a moment where things quiet down, stripping bare, dragging out a stirring feeling of unease and anticipation. They bleed together with smooth transitions that are sometimes unnoticeable, creating a throughline and refusing to release its hold. Crippled Black Phoenix founder Justin Greaves created a collective with the talent that contributes to this album. Each song varies from three to eight artists ensuring the right combination of sounds and textures. Three vocalists appear throughout, Belinda Kordic, Ryan Patterson, and Justin Storms, each offering a different perspective and story to tell.
The album opens with “One Man Wall of Death,” an instrumental track that also stitches together spoken word from various sources. It is a cacophony of voices with pings of nostalgia and emotion backed by a slowly building melody that eventually takes over into a bursting breakdown. The music then comes to an end as a haunting static keyboard melody plays and the voices return bleeding into the next piece. “Ravenettes” and “Things Start Falling Apart” feel classically Crippled Black Phoenix, falling somewhere between indie rock, post rock, and metal. Kordic takes the lead on “Ravenettes” while Storms vocals soar amidst singing guitar melodies on “Things Start Falling Apart.”
“No Epitaph/The Precipice” is reminiscent of Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” in Patterson’s deep and gruff vocals with an acoustic guitar melody at its center. The track expands and welcomes drums, melotron, and synths. Eventually Patterson’s vocals shift as the track reaches its peak to have more of a classic metal edge to them. A quiet is then introduced with the only interruption to the silence being eerie tones ringing out and discreetly transition to “The Void.” This piece is an instrumental soundscape favoring synths with spoken word samples speaking of downward motion, tumbling and falling, diving deeper into the void.
Appropriate to its name, “Vampire Grave” has a more goth-rock feel. Opening with a scratching static, spoken word samples, and then maniacal laughter to anguished scream, this terrifying atmospheric opening comes to a close when a rocking guitar melody is introduced. Patterson’s vocals are then heard in a timbre similar to Andrew Eldritch. Sceaduhelm closes with “Beautiful Destroyer,” the longest on the album spanning just over eight and a half minutes. Combining more of a doom metal feel with earlier elements and vocals by both Patterson and Kordic, it feels like an anthem. It feels like the swell of things coming to a head and facing fears with a built up anger. It is a perfect conclusion.
Crippled Black Phoenix is one of my favorite bands and Sceaduhelm certainly does not disappoint. I am already calling it as one of my top (if not THE top) albums of 2026 for me. From the album art (created by Erebus Art [Thanasis Stratidakis]) to the samples pulled to the flow, every choice has meaning behind it and enhances the listening experience. It is raw, powerful, haunting, and very interesting (as all Crippled Black Phoenix albums are). The variety here, while still remaining cohesive and true to the band’s sound, is impressive. Sceaduhelm is captivating in every sense of the word. You can try and look away but why would you want to?
— Angela
Sceaduhelm is available now through Season of Mist. For more information on Crippled Black Phoenix, check out their Facebook page.
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