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AGGRESSIVE CRUCIFIXION
Aggressive Crucifixion EP

Self-released (2022)
Rating: 6/10

I know little about this Mexico City act but damn, this is one dark, humid and stuffy little EP that has more in common with a Gothic Punk styling than anything, although it also drifts towards a peculiar, unorthodox and very atmospheric black / speed metal vibe.

Aggressive Crucifixion is all the work of one guy, G. Riot, and it sounds to me like he’s been holed up down some well, furiously hammering on the damp walls and coming up with bleak, archaic riffs while his grisly vocal echoes reverberate around the walls, not as calls for help but as wails suggesting some sort of comfort under the blanket of darkness.

Opening cut ‘Into The Night’ is mesmeric and in its primitive form; the sort of track that conjures up whiffs of spiralling, billowing smoke I last inhaled on the original 1985 Speed Kills compilation. It’s like a weird amalgamation of Hellhammer, early Celtic Frost, The Damned, Bulldozer, and goodness knows what else. Meanwhile, ‘Ritual’ has a louder guitar tone, suggesting that the fellow behind this somehow moved closer to the surface and cast some daylight on his sodden strings. However, the EP never shifts from that murky ramble.

The vocals have a touch of Tom G. Warrior about them; remote snarls if you will. Then there’s the peculiar curveball by including a cover of Mötley Crüe’s ‘God Bless The Children Of the Beast’ intro from the Shout At The Devil (1983) opus before he returns to the grim confines of ‘Consequences’ and the totally obscure clatter of ‘Guitarras De Acero’.

This is weird stuff that is all delivered at one pace, and with those warbling vocal cries layered on top Aggressive Crucifixion pretty much epitomises the term “underground”. I just hope he finds his way out of the well for the next release because I’m not sure I can stomach another 25 minutes of the same fusty odour.

Neil Arnold

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