Today, Seance Records sets November 26th as the international release date for a special anniversary album from Black Crucifixion, Triginta, on CD and cassette tape formats.
“When we started, the thought that we would still be relevant 30 years later seemed absurd,” says founding vocalist/guitarist Forn. “But as the times we live in the western culture have reached new levels of absurdity, we seem to have our own small mission going stronger than ever. Satan is the Adversary, and there is more to oppose now than in 1991.”
The 30th anniversary album Triginta features three new tracks and carefully chosen live versions of Black Crucifixion‘s material throughout the three decades of their career. And as was the case with Coronation of King Darkness (2013) and Lightless Violent Chaos (2017), the Finnish prog rock legend Rekku Rechardt again plays lead and rhythm guitars on Triginta.
Black Crucifixion played their first show in August 1991 in Finland, sharing the stage with their compatriots Beherit, Impaled Nazarene, Sentenced, Amorphis, and Belial. That evening was the kick-start for a long career in the shadows, always remaining a cult band known for the quality of their output. With 2020 being quiet on the live front due to current, uncontrollable world events, the band has not been idle, still working creatively and collaborating with Seance Records to compile this addition of the new and the old to their ongoing legacy for the band’s 30th anniversary.
“During the 30 years of our career, Black Crucifixion has always had musical diversity – inside the natural stylistic boundaries of our work,” says E. Henrik, bassist and multi-instrumentalist since 1992. “Triginta offers moments of joy and recognition for people who appreciate any phase of our three-decade-long career.” Meanwhile journalist Juho Mikkonen, who provides liner notes for Triginta, describes the band as “Being the cult amongst cults – that’s Black Crucifixion’s existence in a nutshell. They’ve been around since the very birth of Finnish black metal.”
But Black Crucifixion‘s output went silent around 1994, only to re-emerge in 2006 with the Faustian Dream album which they had been working on for ten years. Since then, they have released three critically acclaimed albums, delivering their unique brand of black metal in a manner that cannot be mistaken for anyone else. There’s a reason why bands like Primordial dedicate songs to Black Crucifixion!
“We celebrated our 20th anniversary with the Hope of Retaliation album that had new studio tracks on one side and live renditions of older material on the other,” continues Forn. “That release opened the vein for our new artistic era, producing two full-length albums and now Triginta.”
Forn calls this new EP, with the retrospective bonus addition of career-spanning live material, the perfect bookend for the band’s current era. “Together, these four discs – Hope of Retaliation (2011), Coronation of King Darkness (2013), Lightless Violent Chaos (2017), and Triginta (2021) – form a trilogy of three full-length albums and should be enjoyed as such.”
Thirty years on and Black Crucifixion’s flame still burns strong, and when we consider if they should be mentioned in the same caliber as legendary Finnish bands of the same era such as Beherit, Impaled Nazarene, or Archgoat, the answer is summed up by Juho Mikkonen’s liner notes in Triginta: “Black Crucifixion has developed into the caliber of a band that deserves to be mentioned next to no one.” And rightly so, because Black Crucifixion‘s artistry is their own and unlike anyone else. The band is truly unique, with a creativity carefully honed yet unfettered by expectations, stereotypes, and conventionality, instead ignited with a fearless and boundless dark creative soul. Their lineage may be shared from the early days of black metal, but their path is their own and always will be.
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “Beyond Linkola” here:
Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Black Crucifixion’s Triginta
1. Night Birds Fall Upon You
2. Beyond Linkola
3. Throneburner
4. Bitten by the Long Frosts of Life (live)
5. Frailest (live)
6. As Black as the Roses (as Weak as My Smile) (live)
7. Wrath Without Hate (live)
8. Retaliation (live)
9. Black Crucifixion (live)
BLACK CRUCIFIXION on Triginta
E.HENRIK – basses, woodwind, keyboards, guitar, soundscapes
E.R.KILL – guitar
FORN – voice, soundscapes, guitar
P.A. TOTENRAUM – drums
REKKU RECHARDT – guitar
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/blackcrucifixion
