CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX – I, VIGILANTE

I, Vigilante as a title makes a clear statement of intent, “I am not an album to be trifled with”. Take this advice on-board before approaching Crippled Black Phoenix’s latest release. Justin Greaves and company have produced an opus of sorts, but one that requires your full and undivided attention. These are not songs per say, they can not be divided up and played on the radio, only the final piece comes in at under six and a half minutes, and they all need to be consumed and digested at once to understand the whole. The album begins with the band showing their Pink Floyd roots, Troublemaker having all the psychedelic tinges and double-tracked vocals that distinguished the men under the big pig; and concludes with the bizarre Burning Bridges, the brightest and breeziest of 60’s pop tunes this side of Sadie the Cleaning Lady. In between there are Victorian instruments used to meld metal to folk to classic prog rock and all things in between and around the edges –  even a cover of Journey’s Of a Lifetime. To say that the band have pulled this off gives an indication of the size of their achievement here.

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