Crom (USA)
The Cocaine Wars 1974 - 1989

Crom. There are many bands with this name, but few of you will know the Crom I know. Many will know the German Crom, others will know the Brazilian ones, which have been active since '93 and released a demo in April... of this year... but how many of you will know the American Crom? They're practically a fusion between Converge and Melvins. So, in a few words, Crom creates a mix of Thrash Metal, Sludge Metal, Doom Metal, and Powerviolence, even though the band claims it's a fusion of Heavy Metal, Black Metal, and Speed Metal. And as if it wasn't already clear from the name, the band members, still unknown except for the leader Phil Vera, have an almost sexual love for "Conan the Barbarian." And with this premise, we embark on this debut from 2001 titled "The Cocaine Wars 1974 - 1989". 30 songs for a total of 36 minutes and 26 seconds. And it kicks off nicely with "Riders of Doom": polar atmosphere and silence, meanwhile "Riders of Doom", the track from the "Conan the Barbarian" soundtrack, is heard in the distance, and then a slow Sludge ride concludes the piece. It then connects to the 17 seconds of "The Gathering," which is a recording taken from a band concert where the singer shouts to the crowd "Are you ready to Heavy Metal? Are you ready to Black Metal? Are you ready to SPEeeEEeed Metal?" (no, not Speed Metal, precisely "SPEEeeEeeEEeEEeed Metal"). And then the real onslaught begins with "Humiliate the Corpse," a song that will give us a rough idea of what the album will be like: lightning-fast Blast Beats alternated with slow Sludge parts, heavy Death/Thrash riffs alternating with Stoner scenes and an acidic voice that goes from Growl to Scream, interspersed with moments like "Burnt Fur" where it directly screams to the four winds without lyrics. And so the whole album advances like this, with climbs, accelerations, decelerations, powerful parts alternated with ridiculous or comedic segments (like the final screech in "What Is Best"), short but simply epic songs like "Life/Death" (26 Seconds you will rarely forget), and tributes to the never-too-loved barbarian/destroyer/thief/avenger/camel-crusher Conan (with parts taken directly from the films), as well as completely nonsensical scenes that you can't understand if they're there as filler or something else, like reggae or electronic music inserts, even Kraftwerk... THE KRAFTWERK... in the sense that at a certain point a snippet of Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express" pops up..... and then in the end comes the final surprise: "Sweet Tigris," the final song of "Cocaine Wars": Normal start, classic Sludge/Heavy ride we're used to, simple riffs and so on, but after 2 minutes everything fades away leaving the polar atmosphere we already heard at the beginning of the album, and so you wait thinking the album is over..... but then you try to check the tracklist and discover with "dismay" that "Sweet Tigris" lasts 7 minutes and 24 seconds! This is by far the longest song on the whole album, and the polar atmosphere part lasts for a counted 4 minutes! FOUR DAMN MINUTES OF SNOW WHERE NOTHING HAPPENS! NOTHING! but then after these 4 minutes comes from the silence an "arpeggio/solo" of acoustic guitar... and then the violence returns with furious Blast Beats and a shouted voice at a thousand to conclude surprisingly with another recording of one of their concerts, probably the end, just to be consistent. This is by far one of the most absurd and unpredictable albums I've ever heard in my life! But surely it's also one of the most fun! this album can very well be compared to "Conan the Destroyer": It will be something powerful, epic, and serious, but at the right moment it will make you laugh like nothing else! Enjoy it all and meanwhile I pray to Crom that you like it, otherwise..... "GO TO HELL!!!"