One of the many acts from the North-Rhine-Westphalia region is the very young two-piece Cross Vault, formed by M (g, b) and N (v, d). The latter (real name: Niklas Thiele aka Barrage Bastard aka Nerrath), by the way, is also involved with bands or projects like Zerstörer, Horn, Bulldozing Bastard, Shrine or Licht Erlischt… - FYI.
Very short after both guys joined forces, they recorded this first full length, Spectres Of Revocable Loss, and the band signed to Eyes Like Snow, a sub-division of Germany’s Northern Silence Productions, in order to have this material released the professional way.
Spectres Of Revocable Loss consists of five new tracks and a cover song (by Warning aka Warning UK), all of them pretty lengthy (in between six and nine minutes). And I would like to return on Warning UK, for Cross Vault are heavily inspired by that legendary English Doom-act (you know, the one that nowadays continues under the 40 Watt Sun-moniker). The album brings melancholic and introspective, integer and sober yet, at the same time, warm-blooded Doom, based on the Traditional Doom-current, with dreamy and emotive melodies. That reference to ‘emotions’ cannot be translated as some poppy or catchy thing because, despite the traditional approach, this record sounds way too desperate and bleak. More than once, and then I am referring to the (dual) leads and riffs, acts like My Dying Bride come to mind as well. Each single piece characterizes the band, i.e. that all of them are connected and recognizable; yet at the same time, all of them do differ a little too. Rocking then again more melancholic; enlightening then again more darkened and oppressive; etc. Yet throughout the whole album, Cross Vault maintain to put their own characteristic mark on every individual composition. The duo is even capable to give the Warning UK-cover (Footprints) an own twist, to have it resulting in a song sounding in total coherence with the rest of the album.
Don’t expect technically high-creative written and executed experiment, for Cross Vault focus on the purest, bare essence of Traditional Doom No epic majesty à la Candlemass, no psychedelica in the vein of Pentagram or Black Sabbath, and no apocalyptic Saint Vitus-alike dissonance; with Spectres Of Revocable Loss, Cross Vault pay tribute to the initial English current, including the haunting, mesmerizing, even ritual spheres of Old.