Sceaduhelm
Crippled Black Phoenix

From Bandcamp, "Sceaduhelm" represents the project's most inward-looking and austere statements to date. Written and recorded between 2023 and 2025, the new album turns away from grand historical narratives to examine emotional erosion, fatigue, and quiet collapse. Rather than a traditional concept record, it unfolds as a unified psychological space, where repetition, restraint, and unease carry as much weight as melody. The songwriting favours slow builds and unresolved tension, resisting catharsis in favour of endurance. Vocals are shared between Belinda Kordic, Ryan Patterson, and Justin Storms, each offering a distinct but complementary perspective within the same emotional terrain. Themes of burnout, memory, violence against the vulnerable, and love already worn thin surface without spectacle."
"One Man Wall of Death" is first. Featuring mostly clean, somber guitars, and a conversation/argument in the background, it slowly builds to a weighted sound of crashing drums and guitar riffs. "Ravenettes" is the first song with vocals. The riffs are heavy, melodic, and somewhat serious sounding, and they turn up the magnitude in the chorus. Stylistically, I would call this dark melodic metal, and it has a raucous energy. "No Epitaph/The Precipice" is an eight minute opus, and it has low vocals, and a depressive sound. "I wanna be a better man for you" he laments. There is a lot of emotion in this song. "Hollows End" has a lot of bottom end weight with expressive, melodic vocals, and I am really starting to figure out what the band is trying to get across. "Dropout" is very dark, and the band uses ethereal vocals, electronica, and depressive tones in this song. The meaty bass notes are excellent as well, and I get a bit of THE CURE here.
"Vampire Grave" is another song with some spoken word/conversation, and the main sound is heavy, energetic, and dark. The contrast between the vocal pair of a male and a female really helps to diversify the sound on the album. I get vibes of TYPE O NEGATIVE here. "Colder and Colder" reflects the music on the album quite well, as it does seem to be getting both colder and darker as it moves. Heavy bass notes lead the way here in this lumbering song, and the vocals sound like they are coming from someone who is ready to just throw in the towel. "Under the Eye" has poignant, emotional vocals to go along with despondent piano notes, and it's another part of the tale. The skies open just a bit in the catchy chorus, and down comes the rain. "Tired to the Bone" is a telling title for one of the songs on the album, because as it progresses, this is the feeling you are left with. Tired of fighting…tired of struggling…just tired.
"Beautiful Destroyer" is the final song, and talk about weight…the riffs are towering and powerful, and they serve as a warning to turn back. The vocals hang with melancholy, and there are cool effects in some of the guitars. It sounds like the final curtain call on a world gone mad, and as the final notes fade, so does your hope. Twelve songs overstayed its welcome just a bit, but some of the "filler" songs helped to tell the story well. The album was dark at its core, but also melodic, and catchy. The dual vocalists helped to keep the album interesting, and it was plenty heavy. Overall, an excellent release.
8 / 10
Excellent
Songwriting
Musicianship
Memorability
Production

"Sceaduhelm" Track-listing:
1. One Man Wall of Death
2. Ravenettes
3. Things Start Falling Apart
4. No Epitaph/The Precipice
5. The Void
6. Hollows End
7. Dropout
8. Vampire Grave
9. Colder and Colder
10. Under the Eye
11. Tired to the Bone
12. Beautiful Destroyer
Crippled Black Phoenix Lineup:
Belinda Kordic – Vocals
Ryan Patterson – Vocals
Justin Storms – Vocals
Justin Greaves – Guitars, Drums, Melotron, Samples
Wes Wasley – Bass
Lucy Marshall – Piano, Synths, Keys, Hammond, Melotron
Rene Misje – Guitars
Andy Taylor – Guitars
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