Crossing The Event Horizon

Yup, if you thought that the genre label mentioned above in its regular slot for this doozy couldn’t have been made up, you are correct. Crossing The Event Horizon from Richmond, Virginia has “Cosmic Progressive Death Metal” plastered right on the cover of my copy of their (apparently) debut self-titled EP. Frailty opens the triad of tunes with some soft piano and guitar arpeggios which make me think of Amorphis before the tinny drums and sweeping guitars take those thoughts towards something much more technical. Vocalist Shawn Ferrell puts out quite an ambitious range mixing guttural growls with slightly Abbath-style snarls, occasional whispers and even clean vocals that ache to the epic crooning of Simen Hestnæs, best known vocally for his contributions to Borknagar, Arcturus and Dimmu Borgir. Out of this formidable range, the brutal stylings fare the best by far. The clean vox aren’t bad at all but could surely use more practice to gain the kind of confidence that can be heard in the growls. As the keyboards come in, I’m guessing the “cosmic” elements are in play. It’s true that the effect is all spacey and atmospheric, but when the keys start duelling with the guitars, it’s straight-up Children Of Bodom-territory. Later on, a pretty straightforward “tribute” to the solo of Ozzy’s Bark At The Moon enforces the feeling of tributing earlier masters. Vision comes in with heavier riffage and mixes some grooving sections in with Dream Theater-style rhythmic jabs here and there. Ok, not that out there, but the kind of off-beat stuff that makes you think of something like Gojira. The Hatebreeder-era COB is present again when the keys and axes mix it up. Blastbeats carry the tune into quite impressive guitar solos that should please any melodic wank-afficionados before going into a calming piano interlude…which then again breaks into a heavy finale. A similar pattern is found in Trepidation Of The Spheres, which starts with some more cosmic keyboards and slower guitar melodies that harken for some epic vibes, almost getting there. Good guitar riffs and sweeps abound with the keyboards harmonizing things up before blasting takes over in the verse. Similar clearly divided sections carry the song into a commendable conclusion that if nothing else, shouldn’t leave anyone in doubt of the band’s instrumental chops. Although you might think from my review that CTEH is another band in a slew of overtly technical but not too memorable death metal squads, but I wouldn’t actually go there. While they could still hone their craft in mixing the heavy and atmospheric moments together more seamlessly, they have some good melodies and hooks going on amidst the fierce instrumentalism. They’re much better at it than bands like say, The Faceless. The main problem with this EP/demo is the production, which leaves especially the drums quite trebly. Not a lot of bass is audible which as you may remember, is a big no-no to me. Since the release of their self-titled platter, vocalist Ferrell has apparently left the band, so hopefully the group can find a suitable replacement. They have definite potential to craft some intriguing metal.