Premiere: Crafteon – Cosmic Reawakening
How does a Lovecraft-inspired band stand out in a post-Cthulhu metal landscape? By writing great songs, it turns out! Today I’m pleased as hell to unveil the debut album of melodic black metal band Crafteon! Get in here to hear some soaring choruses and pelagic riffs in worship of both killer heavy metal and The Great Old Ones.
Just a little over a year ago, I declared that we had reached peak Cthulhu. Once the terrifying embodiment of fear of the unknown, the mighty alien god has been reduced in our culture of rabid commercialization to a trite goth mascot. The proliferation of Cthulhu across video games, television, and even our beloved metal has all but robbed Lovecraftian authors of the splendor and mystery of the great stories they told. Well no more, says Lord Mordiggian, literature teacher and creative force behind Crafteon. No more will we bow to neutered, stone idols! We must return to the depths of R’lyeh and behold once more the frightening majesty of greater consciousnesses than ours! What’s Mordiggian’s grand plan? More churning, dissonant, atonal metal to stun the senses?
No. As fate would have it, all Crafteon needed to offer to the Great Old Ones was solid melodic black metal. Across the eight tracks of debut album Cosmic Reawakening, you’ll hear very little murk or noise; the album is more Borknagar than Portal, composed of tight, independent songs with eminently singable choruses and headbanging riffs. Inspired as much by classic metal like Iron Maiden (just listen to that bass work in “The Temple”) and Cradle of Filth (there’s a wonderful bombast to songs like “The Colour Out of Space”) as it is the riveting works of Lumley and Long, Cosmic Reawakening is an expansive, multifaceted love letter to the imaginative spirit and adventurous eye for detail that made those classic works of literature and metal that informed it so engaging.
But don’t take my word for it! Press play below and give yourself over to Crafteon’s bold take on Lovecraftian metal. From the seafaring harmonies of “The White Ship” to the eerie melancholy of “From Beyond,” Cosmic Reawakening has the riffs and spirit to please fans of mythic metal from Bal-Sagoth to Keep of Kalessin. And at a tight 44 minutes, the record’s engrossing narrative is more than enough to lose yourself in.
Soon enough you’ll be falling in love with the Black Goat of a Thousand Young all over again.
Crafteon’s Cosmic Reawakening comes out August 25th. Get it on Bandcamp here and check out the band on Facebook here.
