Crucial Velocity – Crucial Velocity

Crucial Velocity
Crucial Velocity
Out: September 7^th, 2023
Playing time: 55:56

Okay. This album was released one year ago, but the promo mail arrived just a few days ago. We’re talking about the old star band project Crucial Velocity. Musicians from bands like King Diamond and Shaolin Death Squad got together and released their self-titled debut album in September last year. They combine the dynamics of bands like Black Sabbath and Opeth with the hooks of 80s power metal. And I think it’s worth giving this album a listen.

The album starts very melodically with ‘Lilium’. Beautiful guitar hooks can be heard. Singer Androo O’Hearn has an extremely pleasant Rock voice. It goes very well with the calm sound. ‘Sins Of Pilate’ starts with acoustic guitars and is a little quieter than its predecessor. Later, the guitars become heavier. The tempo picks up a little on ‘Serpent’. The drumming in particular drives the band forward a bit. There are synth sounds in the background, but they are well integrated into the overall sound. Distorted drum sounds can be heard at the beginning of ‘Savior’. Later on, the drums kick in again. The guitar riffs easily keep up. I had to wait a long time to hear something along the lines of the dynamics of the aforementioned Black Sabbath. I found what I was looking for at the beginning of ‘The Waiting’. But not all the way through. Here, too, calmer tones dominate later on. Even ‘Invincible’ offers one or two Sabbath borrowings in the riffing. Twin guitars and hard drums are then offered in ‘Secret’. But the mid-tempo range is not abandoned here either. ‘Visitors’ starts with a synth fade in. But soon drums and guitars are banging out of the speakers. As soon as the vocals kick in, however, things calm down again. ‘Run’ then lives up to its title. Even if no speed records are broken here, it is probably the fastest song on the album. And, like everything else, highly melodic. The crowning glory is a great guitar solo, but it could definitely be a little longer. Instead, ‘Darkness’ is a quiet song. Even when hard and somewhat faster riffs kick in later, there is no real darkness, quite the opposite. The final song ‘A Memory’ is once again calm with partly acoustic-sounding guitars. A beautiful semi-ballad to round things off, also because hard riffs can be heard again and again. And more great guitar solos.

On the album you can hear far more Opeth vibes than Black Sabbath borrowings. The latter only shine through occasionally. Crucial Velocity celebrate almost an hour of timelessly beautiful Melodic Rock. The varied songwriting and the musicians’ musical performances provide entertainment. The four of them know their profession. The sound on the album is excellent and fits the mood of the album perfectly.

Crucial Velocity – Lilium: https://youtu.be/1HZ-KeoE-Qw?si=PCiVgMNkQyrBxlsg

Lineup:

Matt Thompson (King Diamond) – Drums
Michael Harris (Chastain/Harris , solo artist) – Lead Guitar
Androo O’Hearn (Shaolin Death Squad) – Vocals
Nate Bauer – Songwriter, Guitar, Bass, Keys

Track list:

• Lilium
• Sins of Pilate
• Serpent
• Savior
• The Waiting
• Invincible
• Secret
• Visitors
• Run
• Darkness
• A Memory