When Brighton noiseniks Bird Eats Baby felt they needed to turn their amps up a little more and a different side of their character was pushing through, an alter ego, Crimson Veil, was born. Those who caught the quartet opening for Lordi on the Finnish monsters’ tour earlier this year would have been treated to an otherworldly and haunting experience, the band projecting their own striking visual presence on the night.
Crimson Veil – Hex (Reigning Phoenix Music)
Release Date: Out Now
Words: Paul Monkhouse
The concern with a lot of theatrical acts is that the show papers over the cracks and diverts attention away from the weakness of the music itself, barring a few notable exceptions. Happily, though, Crimson Veil have the chops to more than stand on their own, and Hex is nothing short of jaw-dropping.
With their own brand of unsettling Goth rock mixed with Heavy Metal, the outfit blaze brightly with a dark light, the switch between the ethereal and eviscerating artfully done over the album’s nine tracks. With vocalist Mishkin Fitzgerald, guitarist Gary Mitchell, drummer Anna Mylee and the extraordinarily monikered Hana Piranha on strings, the band have created their own world here and the whole is like Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland shot through the lens of The Blair Witch Project.
Ambitious in its scope and executed with a disarming glaciallity, this is heady stuff, the elements coming together in a strange brew that works perfectly.
The opening title track is full of constantly twisting patterns, the haunting vocals, instant riff and burbling bass suddenly giving way to wildly feral guttural vocals as electronic elements bring shards of modernity to something that feels as old as time itself.
Certainly, a bold opening, the following Ribbons leans more into a dreamy and grand feel, the sweep somehow both majestic yet intimate, then a multifaceted Flinch spews out crushing heaviness that easily switches to soaring and back again, the power and peace exhilarating.
Throughout, the fretwork by Mitchell adds the raw muscularity, Mylee’s drums caress and pound and Piranha alternates between sweeping, heartbreaking passages and vicious jabs that could split the sky, the three providing the perfect base for the extraordinary range of Mishkin.
Perfectly illustrating their approach, Shift, Illuminate and Opulence all intertwine threads of this sonic tapestry, the sound of the apocalypse interspersed with angelic tranquillity in a way that will make heads spin. Each number is a journey into the unknown and when fully experienced encased in headphones, the numbers are nothing short of astounding.
Closing with the Grand Guignol of Task, spectral whimsy and skin-flaying heaviness find themselves locked in an eternal struggle as the prog meets Goth stylings paint vivid images that set Crimson Veil out as an extraordinary force of creation.
Pushing artistic boundaries and creating something entirely unique, Hex is an outstanding first step on this brave new journey where fragility and strength are never quite what they seem. A thrilling achievement.
