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Crippled Black Phoenix - (Mankind) The Crafty Ape (Album Review)
Wednesday, 01 February 2012 Written by Ben Bland
CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX - (Mankind) the Crafty Ape (Album Review)

At some point more people in the UK are surely going to notice that Crippled Black Phoenix is one of the most talented musical collectives in the country. Although their first record, “A Love of Shared Disasters”, was perhaps a slow start to their discography, the sheer scale of follow-up “The Resurrectionists / Night Raider” and the groovy underbelly of third effort “I, Vigilante” should really have gained them a lot more attention by now. As things stand, however, “(Mankind) the Crafty Ape” arrives unheralded by the vast majority of the music world.

Such lack of concern for the activities of this band is more the pity for the excellence of most of the material here. A vast, largely conceptual, double album, this record marks out the many strengths that distinguish Crippled Black Phoenix from pretty much any one of their contemporaries, whilst also providing their most epic set of compositions to date. The revolutionary feel conjured on this album is immediately apparent from the dehumanised cry that begins the first disc: “Use your anger to creatively destroy your oppressors”.

Generally speaking, the first two ‘chapters’ of the album (“A Thread” and “The Trap”) are more traditionally ‘rock’ than the final part (“The Blues of Man”). Still conjuring the extra bit of rock posturing that was so brilliantly includes on “I, Vigilante”, the likes of “Laying Traps” and “Release the Clowns” are brilliant hard rock anthems. It is still when entering truly epic territory that the band is most successful however. “Operation Mincemeat” is only about seven minutes along but in that time manages to fit in as much as many supposedly ‘progressive’ bands manage in about double that time. Closer “Faced with Complete Failure, Utter Defiance is the Only Response”, meanwhile, does indeed go on for double the aforementioned time but instead of being pompous and melodramatic comes across as a performance of completely glorious conviction.

When all is said and done, Crippled Black Phoenix are an entity beyond most others. A constantly shifting line-up of musicians, for better or for worse, no doubt contributes but the sheer unwillingness of this band to conform to any genre or stereotype whatsoever is more appropriate. Some cretins may criticise this record for essentially being a ‘prog rock album’, but few records heard in recent times would be more appropriately termed so. A rock album above all else, but one that features a vast array of influences and textures, Justin Greaves’ crew have really come up trumps here. If this is the sound of “complete failure”, I think I’d rather fail any day.

“(Mankind) the Crafty Ape” is out now via Cool Green Recordings. Crippled Black Phoenix are expected to be touring later in the year.
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