Crippled Black Phoenix - White Light Generator (2014)

I spent a good portion of the beginning of the year absolutely hyped for this album, and when I finally listened to it, I loved it. It's a good thing I let the dust settle before I reviewed 'White Light Generator', because it's not as stellar as first thought.

As the name suggests, 'White Light Generator' is a lighter turn in the band's direction - an interview with Justin Greaves gives insight to the album as being "two sides of the same coin…(of) human nature", yet "there's no story to the record", which brings a twinge of concern to any concept-album fanboys. The album is split into two sides: a Black Side and a White Side, the latter being longer as to carry the torch of 'optimism' behind the album - the Black Side is comprised mainly of fist-pumping post-rock anthems, and the White Side is comprised mainly of softer ballad-esque songs. As expected of Crippled Black Phoenix, the new album returns with a change in the band's line up with new vocalist Daniel Änghede - although this new voice is a breath of fresh air, it is let down by the words that he's singing.

If you've even seen CBP's Facebook page, you'll know it's filled with Justin Greave's anti-political ramblings (conjuring up hilarious thoughts of him wearing a tin-foil hat and raving like a lunatic in a city centre about the government) - which is a cause for concern. The same interview with Justin Greaves goes on about his hatred for British Politics ad nauseum, and this is certainly reflected in the album with lyrics such as 'no use for politicians to rule here, government annihilation' and 'empires will crumble under our feet, the burning flags will end your greed'. CBP's lyrics have always circled around politics, like in songs such as 'Troublemaker' and 'Operation Mincemeat', but the lyrics in White Light Generator lack the same subtlety and finesse as the group's previous work. The lack of any coherent concept in this album may also be to blame; as many of their greatest songs are based on historical contexts, I feel a bit disappointed at the aimless lyrics in the new album. However, the quality of vocals in songs like the hauntingly beautiful choral lines in 'A Brighter Tomorrow' and the powerful wailing in 'Black Light Generator' more than make up for the album's unpolished lyrics.

Crippled Black Phoenix are an army when it comes to instrumentation - on an average-side stage, they're almost falling off the end of it since it's such a struggle to fit every instrument under the sun on it. From Hammond Organs to violins, saws to trumpets, and pianos to 'all kinds of guitar ***', CBP are more than utilized to create a strong sonic atmosphere of their music which remains consistent throughout the whole album. The strength of the band as a team is obvious in the synchronicity in songs like 'No!', where the whole band abruptly stops and starts in unison between shouts of 'No!', and the orgasmic ending to 'We Remember You'. However, the Black Side's formula of heavy riffs and drum beats have led to 'Let's Have an Apocalypse Now!', 'Black Light Generator' and 'Parasites' all merging into one due to very little variance - it takes a lot of re-listens to distinguish the three songs from each other. The White Side has no problems with this, as each song is a stand-alone example of instrumental brilliance.

Overall, the album is brilliant instrumentally as you'd expect from Crippled Black Phoenix, but the lyrics are very two-dimensional and some songs need growing onto - it's a very good album, but after every time I listen to any song off it I always end up thinking to myself: 'Man, (Mankind) The Crafty Ape and I, Vigilante were amazing', and I switch over to something off of those two albums. It's a great piece of music, but not Crippled Black Phoenix's best.

Review by JJKeys, SputnikMusic.com

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 25. April 2014, 3:46

Crippled Black Phoenix / White Light Generator

Used drive : ASUS DRW-1608P Adapter: 1 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:12.47 | 0 | 9946
2 | 2:12.47 | 3:51.04 | 9947 | 27275
3 | 6:03.51 | 9:44.38 | 27276 | 71113
4 | 15:48.14 | 5:46.54 | 71114 | 97117
5 | 21:34.68 | 5:46.41 | 97118 | 123108
6 | 27:21.34 | 5:23.24 | 123109 | 147357
7 | 32:44.58 | 1:46.10 | 147358 | 155317
8 | 34:30.68 | 6:04.56 | 155318 | 182673
9 | 40:35.49 | 5:22.09 | 182674 | 206832
10 | 45:57.58 | 4:15.17 | 206833 | 225974
11 | 50:13.00 | 5:08.26 | 225975 | 249100
12 | 55:21.26 | 8:58.31 | 249101 | 289481
13 | 64:19.57 | 6:33.30 | 289482 | 318986


Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename D:\Crippled Black Phoenix - White Light Generator.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 7.5 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC FAC66EAE
Copy CRC FAC66EAE
Copy OK

No errors occurred


AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [939C801F] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [256566D5] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [58FCE0F6] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [39B35AE2] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [7D50F77D] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [036E7A76] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [589D023E] (AR v2)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [31FD31D0] (AR v2)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [3FB480AB] (AR v2)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [281930C5] (AR v2)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [064AA2F6] (AR v2)
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [E7FD1647] (AR v2)
Track 13 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [83F4CFB8] (AR v2)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

==== Log checksum 36EE5FB45A7C683A4C78B64A2F996B251FE27ED80A3EF5BD4BE4DDD04FDBC4EA ====

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2015-01-29 15:09:51

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Crippled Black Phoenix / White Light Generator
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR12 -4.09 dB -19.43 dB 2:13 01-Sweeter Than You
DR6 -0.12 dB -8.34 dB 3:51 02-No! (Pt 1)
DR7 -0.12 dB -9.41 dB 9:45 03-No! (Pt 2)
DR5 -0.19 dB -6.11 dB 5:47 04-Let's Have An Apocalypse Now!
DR5 0.00 dB -6.24 dB 5:47 05-Black Light Generator
DR6 -0.20 dB -7.63 dB 5:23 06-Parasites
DR13 -1.85 dB -17.83 dB 1:46 07-_______
DR5 -0.12 dB -7.35 dB 6:05 08-Northern Comfort
DR7 -0.12 dB -8.59 dB 5:22 09-Wake Me Up When It's Time To Sleep
DR7 -0.11 dB -8.61 dB 4:15 10-Caring Breeds The Horror
DR7 -0.12 dB -8.80 dB 5:08 11-You'll Be Murdered
DR7 -0.12 dB -9.18 dB 8:58 12-We Remember You
DR9 -0.10 dB -10.95 dB 6:33 13-A Brighter Tomorrow
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 13
Official DR value: DR7

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 830 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================