Crucible Divine - Righteous Crusade Review

One of the things I like the most about Metal music is its musical diversity. Just about yesterday the review was on a Black Metal band. Today the review is on a White Metal band. Musicwise, both are pretty different as well. With traces of Mötley Crüe on the mooding, some Judas Priest on vocals, a little Saxon on some instrumentals, and even some Power Metal slants, Crucible Divine surprise the fan by their ferocity. “Righteous Crusade” is hard and strong with some touches – believe it or not – of some cruelty. Go straight ahead to “Once Again” to get what I’m saying. The song has that Judas Priest “Painkiller” era vicius ferocity. Well, I don’t get surprised by cruelty in White Metal songs.

Ok, then, here we’ve got Crucible Divine with “Righteous Crusade.” I have to say the word righteous gives me the creeps even more when it’s followed by the word crusade. Yeah, you get the idea, don’t you? There are things that get me puzzled about people who use the words. They are the same who say love thy neighbor. Understand thy neighbor as a white, heterosexual, and christian person. Any little bit far from that turns into hate thy neighbor. Go figure.

Right, we’re here to talk about music. Well, the music in “Righteous Crusade” is just great. Album opener “Victory Chant” was the one the got me from the beginning. The initial tribal drumming with some medieval instruments make a great mood so hard to ignore. The chant is followed by a Power Metal guitar riff that captures the fan. It’s not the riff but the combination vocals plus guitars plus the keyboards that make the song so attractive. As I am talking about the guitars they are one of the highlights of the album. Raymond Christie and Kevin Wale do a hell – ops! – of fine guitar lines here. I like very much the tone of following track “Free Love” which combines Metal instrumentals with some 1970ish chorus. The outcome is pretty interesting. A highlight to vocalist Dale Thompson whose throat rocks. Same happens with the tittle track “Righteous Crusade” where the dude varies his voice the he wants it.

Musicwise “Righteous Crusade” is a great album if my dear child of the night ignores some of the messages. I did. The good old days were much more simple.

Crucible Divine “Righteous Crusade” was released in 2023 via Roxx Records.

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