Crust - Where Light Fears To Descend - review
Crust - Where Light Fears To Descend - review
Band
Crust Release date
May 23, 2025 Tracklist
01. Soul-Grinding Abyss02. Premeditation Of Evils
03. Coffin Sodomy
04. Crimen Contra Humanitatem
05. Your Sweet Smell And Bitter Taste
06. Lightgiver
07. Apokatastasis Panton
08. Agony In Blood
09. Frozen Tomb
A review by
AndyMetalFreak July 13, 2025
Crust formed in Russia in 2014, and have a style defined as a combination of sludge, black, and doom metal. Here, they return 2 years after the impressive Dissolution to release their sixth full-length album. While their style of music is crushing enough to pummel its way through the Earth's crust, their lyrical content focuses heavily on dark, thought-provoking themes centered around the struggles of human life, and this latest offering is no different in that regard; the lyrics are once again deeply emotive, covering an array of emotions from anguish and despair to hope across a soul-crushing 40 minutes. Each of the 9 featured songs acts as a separate chapter, with themes exploring human isolation and suffering along with the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, while the music manages to push the boundaries of modern metal further than before, without straying too far from their roots.
This latest album traverses through some of the band's darkest and most atmospherically immersive material yet, with strikingly melodic guitar work counteracting the sheer volume of heaviness and intensity. The guitar work of duo Vladislav Tatarsky and Denis Borovinsky alternates between slow acoustic-driven atmospheric sections, ferocious blackened tremolos, and heavy yet melodic doom/sludge riffs, with memorable solos ranging from distorted wailing to high-octane shredding. This impressive variety of guitar work can be partly attributed to new guitarist Borovinsky's introduction to the fold, which adds a welcoming new layer to the song arrangements that simply can't be ignored when compared with previous albums.
The tempo mostly lingers at slower or more moderate speeds, but also with sudden outbursts of ferocity, during which the drums of Roman Romanov morph from stylish rhythms to rapid blast beats, all supported by the pulsating bass of Artur Filenko. The vocals are once again blackened shrieks performed by Filenko in a tortuous and agonizing manner, and are a vital component to the album's overall emotive soundscape.
Where Light Fears To Descend is Crust's most matured album to date, both in sound quality, thanks to an immaculately crisp production, and songwriting, courtesy of some wonderful arrangements. What's fascinating, though, is that no song quite sounds the same, ranging from the wonderful guitar melodies of "Your Sweet Smell And Bitter Taste" to the intensifying dissonance of "Apokatastasis Panton", and from the evilly hypnotizing "Agony In Blood" to the hauntingly atmospheric "Frozen Tomb". There's certainly no shortage of memorable moments throughout this record, and with a variety of styles, tones, and emotions being covered, this makes for one of the most intriguing and enjoyable albums of this kind in 2025.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 7 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written on 13.07.2025 by
Written on 13.07.2025 by
An honest review that you don't necessarily have to agree with. Comments
Comments:
2
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Posts: 3532
Alright Andy you convinced me to check this one out. I like your description of the guitar work, honestly that was enough to get me!
---- - Headbanging with mostly clogged arteries to that stuff - Guib's List Of Essential Albums - Also Thrash Paradise Thrash Here
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Posts: 212  |
Posts: 212
I sometimes feel that a big part of the reviewer’s appreciation (and the public’s) is based on the sonic qualities of the album rather than the actual musical content. Because for me this album has nothing to offer musically or in terms of compositions (rather the same old cliches). However, it sounds cool, the production of it, the evilness that it evokes . I don’t know…
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