Crossfaith — SPECIES — EP Review
Metalcore | Electronic Metal
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
There was indeed a running theme with the majority of the music I listened to as a growing teen, and that was sheer heaviness. There were a plethora of bands that, looking back on them now, represented a good chunk of my teenhood; Crossfaith was one of those bands.
With that being said, it should come as no surprise that I had been a fan of Crossfaith for a considerable amount of time, with my discovery of the Japanese heavy metal band going as far back as 2013’s APOCALYZE.
Since that moment, I have seen the band live a number of times, with the most recent being a literal week or so before I begun the ritual of staying at home. This most recent live show also introduced me to Ocean Grove, which I am of course very grateful for.
Furthermore, I suspected that this live show also heralded a new kind of record from Crossfaith, as they had already released the 2020 single “Endorphin” by this point. I must say, however, that given their last full-length album was 2018’s EX_MACHINA, I believed that 2020 would be a good time to add a newer piece.
Whether COVID 19 had something to affect this or not, Crossfaith’s newest outing was cut very finely into 5 tracks, which make up their newest EP SPECIES.
I must say that I had two clashing opinions towards the new EP upon its release; one was that of excitement (as Crossfaith have shown to release some brilliant EP’s in the past), but I also felt a little skeptical towards this EP, which was mainly down to my thoughts on the teasers for the EP.
While I loved Crossfaith’s sense of innovation on their 2018 album, it was simultaneously refreshing in some respect to have an EP such as SPECIES carry a lot of familiarity. In many cases, parts of this EP feel quite reminiscent of the early days of Crossfaith.
And while “Endorphin” thankfully managed to be a lot more enjoyable amongst the rest of the EP, the other teaser, “Digital Parasite” still remained a bit of an underwhelming track in my opinion.
Despite only being a 5 track EP, Crossfaith still managed to cram in a fair amount of atmospheric versatility. Notable tracks that represent this would be the all-out and explosive “Truth Of Insanity”, and the more melodic, but equally energetic “Your Song”.
However, an example of where this versatility perhaps did not quite hit the target of enjoyment was the slightly hard to digest nature of “None Of Your Business”, which features some bars from rap artist Jin Dogg. And while I would happily welcome a feature on a Crossfaith song under normal circumstances, I just feel like the nature of the production and Jin Dogg’s vocal style don’t quite match up.
While I honestly would’ve been happier to wait a while longer for a more extensive project instead, SPECIES still manages to be quite the solid Crossfaith project, and feels like an EP made to keep the Crossfaith spirit alive while we wade through the days of this pandemic.
Indeed, there are a few underwhelming points here and there, but the pro’s still outweigh the cons. And while I was worried that this EP might’ve been a sign that I have heard all there is to hear from this awesome band, I instead felt a new small wave of enjoyment towards the band once again.
Favourite Tracks: Endorphin | Truth Of Insanity | Your Song
Least Favourite Track: Digital Parasite
UNFD
