Born near the shores of what could be considered God’s country Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia lads From Crisis to Collapse have just delivered their debut release entitled The Seventh Tree. Recorded by Chris Ross at Palpitation Studios, South Brisbane this seven track E.P packs enough punch to give Mike Tyson a noticeable shiner, from beginning to end it is a punishing listen to say the least!
Opener: “Crisis” takes all of five seconds to break into a frenzy of metal fury, bordering on thrash this track offers a real rhythmic element to it as well making for very creative penmanship, in a musical sense of course! The lyrics at the end of each chorus “Question everything, believe nothing” stick out amongst the musical madness and sees frontman/ vocalist Angus Carter reach to the depths of what is humanly possible to deliver a convincing and guttural set of screams! I got actual chills!
Every now and then you hear a track that screams CIRCLE PIT! Any metal head knows that song when they hear it! “Turning The Gun” is one of those tracks, from its progressions to its pace it has the ingredients for an all-out riot, Chad Ellis and Ian Konrad (Guitars) work each respective fret board to the nth degree, not only during the bones of the track but also during the solo! A percussive tom-tom laden chorus by drummer Marco Penniello along with a gang vocal that will see punters pause from the chaos to join in makes this track a crowd pleaser for sure!
Though the band is locked in on every track “Dimitri” sees the lads really fashion something crafty with its chugs to thrash signatures melding together! Two things that need to be pointed out on this track is bassist Unai Aldecoa work on playing every single note the riffs dish out and the crazy somewhat stripped back kick patterns by Penniello during yet another blistering guitar solo! Classy moves right there!
With a debut release comes to a debut film clip, if you haven’t seen it check it out, the effects will bend your mind into confetti! “Slow Burn” presents a more stomping down beat vibe which stretches to almost six minutes, being a longer track one could expect it to lighten up at times, this is not the case, instead a crushing breakdown is given and it’s given in big dirty chucks of pure metal!
All I can say is that it sucks to not have hair at this moment or any time I hear this track, “No Promises” is a straight up thrash number, I actually think it may possible to twist ones neck clean off whilst head banging to it!! There is key change almost two minutes into “No Promises” that will make every single metal head from the Northern Suburbs of Melbourne salute this quintet with upmost respect! Wowsers that is some pub thrash right there…. ahhhh now I’m thirsty!
“Lift the Vail” again sees the band really locked in with a structure comparable/ pays respect to the euro metal stylings we all know and love! Though there are many examples of brilliant drumming by Marco Penniello on The Seventh Tree “Lift the Vail” is where he shines the brightest, on point at every change with pieces that make you rewind the track to figure out how the patterns were configured! Be sure to pay close attention during the insane guitar solos, far out it almost loses definition or to paraphrase Devon Townsend “It becomes almost crimson”
Saving the largest vocals till last Carter shouts “Wake up, get the fuck up, we need, we need to move this broken ship, before we sink” from what seems like a mountain of intensity and conviction! “Crystals Are Us” builds into yet another manic metal mammoth to help round out this very solid debut release! Be sure to keep the volume high on this track…..please take my advice on this one!
It’s hard to believe that “The Seventh Tree” is a debut release, it packs professional writing that puts From Crisis to Collapse right in the epicentre of the metal world. To think, this is only the beginning, get excited people, the storm is building!
