CRUCE SIGNATUS' self-titled debut is the first of four epic concept albums, which form the musical soundscape for a feature-length, animated anthology series. In collaboration with Heavy Metal Magazine illustrators such as Vincent Kings & Chris Anderson, this series unfolds the tale of an impoverished knight’s quest to confront his sins as he navigates the monstrous brutality of the First Crusade.  Breaking down genre boundaries and casting aside traditional song structures, CRUCE SIGNATUS’ unique blend of synthwave and heavy metal emphasizes repeated build-ups, continually stacking melodies and rhythms into polyphonic climaxes.

The album has four songs, and “Gehenna Et Tartareum” is first. Out of the gates comes a heavy keyboard sound mixed with guitar leads. Then, a change of key and a pause. The keys expand, as if headed to outer space itself, and monumental tones build. A steady drum beat takes over from there with fat keyboard notes. “Lus Gladii” has a similar sound, with a lot of keyboards. They are both in the foreground and the background, and although they are a good medium for carrying a Metal sound, too much of them can be like too much salt in a recipe.

“Vexiullum Crucis” is a ten-minute beast, again, drenched in keyboards, synths, and effects. The composer does have a sense of a traditional song structure, with changes as needed, but again, it’s such a heavy keyboard sound and often with no other instruments present at all. Bellum Dei closes the album, with another lengthy keyboard offering. This one is a little different, but still has those ominous qualities present in the other tracks. Overall, the album was decent, but it failed to really make a mark because of all of the keyboards and synths. Mind you, I love them as a medium in music, but when it’s nearly the entire sound, you get washed over from them.