CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX was formed in 2004 by Justin Greaves as an ever-evolving musical project driven by emotional inquiry and moral tension. Across two decades, the project has built a singular catalogue rooted in human fragility, endurance, and resistance to complacency. ‘Sceaduhelm’ represents the project’s most inward-looking and austere statements to date.
Written and recorded between 2023 and 2025, the new album turns away from grand historical narratives to examine emotional erosion, fatigue, and quiet collapse. Rather than a traditional concept record, it unfolds as a unified psychological space, where repetition, restraint, and unease carry as much weight as melody. The songwriting favours slow builds and unresolved tension, resisting catharsis in favour of endurance.
Vocals are shared between Belinda Kordic, Ryan Patterson, and Justin Storms, each offering a distinct but complementary perspective within the same emotional terrain. Themes of burnout, memory, violence against the vulnerable, and love already worn thin surface without spectacle.
Produced by Justin Greaves and mixed by Iver Sandøy, the sound remains deliberately raw and exposed, avoiding comfort or excess. ‘Sceaduhelm’ listens closely to what remains after outrage has faded, focusing on consequence rather than reaction.
For fans of SWANS, GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR, CODEINE, MARK LANEGAN.
Artwork by Erebus Art (Thanasis Stratidakis).
'Sceaduhelm' on black CD in deluxe Digipak with matt lamination with 20-page booklet. + 'Horrific Honorifics Number Two Point Five (2.5)' on black CD in carton sleeve with matt lamination. + 3 carton inserts with elements to cut out to make your own theater. All packed in special O-card that is the theater!
