There is nothing like the good ol’ apocalyptic sound, one bands such as Godspeed You Black Emperor or The Black Heart Procession have mastered quite well. Cinematic, intriguing, and a special feeling of comfortable loneliness that is contradictory, but not upsetting. Well now we have another band to add into the mix, Crippled Black Phoenix, who after there underground success from Love of Shared Disasters have come out with their new release, 200 Tons of Bad Luck. Even though those both sound like album titles that might belong in Converge’s catalogue, Crippled Black Phoenix is much different.

With members from Mogwai, Pantheist, and other bands, this “super group” has captured the instrumental feel while still making an effort to blend in vocals. Which, might I add, do not sound out of place or awkward, but actually quite fitting and sensible. Just as Godspeed’s music played out quite well in Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, 200 Tons of Bad Luck is the soundtrack to some unmade film of armageddon-undertones and uplifting endings. “Time of Yer Life/Born for Nothing/Paranoid Arm of Narcoleptic Empire” is an 18 minute track that expresses these themes very well. Slow, drowning guitar tracks, with a sample of a seemingly old man giving an inspired pep-talk of how to live your life happy and to the fullest extent…a contrast that clashes together so hard it creates a beautiful atmosphere for a song. Needless to say, with 18 minutes of song, it picks up later in, creating a thicker, fuller world than the one it sets out to portray in the beginning. “A Hymn for a Lost Soul” is just that…a piano driven Hymn. Multiple voices and melodies, as if it was coming from a Church balcony where the quire would sing. “A Lack of Common Sense” is more along the melodic lines of Appleseed Cast, where “I Am Free, Today I Perished” is a much more toned down track, and a perfect ending to this album. Not only is the titled spot on, but the music is a string-orchestrated credits sequence, as if the credits are the people you’re reminiscing about in your own life.

As cheesy as it sounds, 200 Tons of Bad Luck really is a soundtrack to your own life. It is built on foundations of cinematic, inspiring music, that can be molded in such a way that it really applies to anybody. The contrasts, themes, and sheer eclectics of the album make for something that any one person can listen to, and relate to.

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