{"id":18495,"date":"2025-04-14T06:07:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T06:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/18495\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T06:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T06:07:09","slug":"cruce-signatus-ii-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/18495\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruce Signatus – II Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"One of the scant morsels of criticism I offered to Pillaging Villagers<\/strong>\u2019 self-titled 2022 opus was not explicitly aimed at the record itself, but rather at my perceived longevity of the project. David Frazer\u2019s first solo outing, while a blast to spin to this day, feels like something best suited as a one-off excursion. For this reason, I approached his follow-up project, the instrumental metal\/synthwave\/electronic mashup that is Cruce Signatus<\/strong>, with a grain of skepticism. From day one, Frazer planned Cruce Signatus<\/strong> as a four-act experience, and for as much as I enjoyed its first volume, it again engendered a nagging sense of doubt as to its shelf life. By its end, the self-titled debut painstakingly explores seemingly every corner of its hyper-specific vision of cinematic metallo-electro-neo-baroque-wave. For this project to truly grow, Frazer would need to up the stakes through an expanded scope, elevated drama, and a broadened emotional palette. Less than a year on from its predecessor, II has done precisely that.<\/p>\n

My chief criticisms of Cruce Signatus<\/strong> were levied at its lack of variety in both tone and tempo, and II goes so hard in addressing the former that it somehow absolves itself of the latter. II does feature a handful of tempo shake-ups in its back third, but the record so often drastically departs from its predecessor\u2019s uniformly villainous tone as to not really need them. Opener \u201cConversio Militiae \u2013 Viam Justorum\u201d debuts in expected fashion, all dramatic chords and ascending arpeggios invoking a classical idea of Hell, before gracefully pivoting into a movement that I can only describe as \u201c1990\u2019s JRPG End Credits Theme\u201d-core. Swaths of II feel overtly uplifting, and even when it doesn\u2019t, tracks like \u201cMilites Christi II \u2013 Gesta Francorum\u201d are so whimsical and dynamic as to substantially differentiate this record from Cruce Signatus<\/strong>\u2019 first act. Simultaneously, II feels so loyal to Cruce Signatus<\/strong>\u2019 established identity that no one could mistake it for a project under any other name. As an expansion of that identity, II is revelatory.<\/p>\n

II is full of unexpected victories for a project with an already impressive foundation, with one of the most surprising being just how well it succeeds as a standalone experience. Cruce Signatus<\/strong>\u2019 first act split the difference between soundtrack and traditional album in its construction, and while II retains the soundtrack vibes, its individual tracks feel more self-contained. Each has a distinct identity, resulting in a tonal trajectory that gives the record a pronounced overarching structure akin to a classic \u201chero\u2019s journey\u201d narrative. While the mid-album cuts (namely \u201cMilites Christi\u201d I & II) feel gritty and combative, the bookends exhibit neon-drenched euphoria, with the massive closing track \u201cPoena\u201d making for what feels like the most gratifying possible conclusion at the end of the journey, ominous stinger foreshadowing Act III notwithstanding.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Beyond Cruce Signatus<\/strong>\u2019 structural and tonal innovations, II just straight up fucking jams. While bearing plenty of introspective moments, II represents an exponentially more energetic, almost power metal-fied take on this project\u2019s sound over its predecessor, which is honestly difficult to wrap my head around considering that it\u2019s also unquestionably the more varied of the two records. It helps, then, that II\u2019s high-end feels notably less shrill than that of Cruce Signatus<\/strong>\u2019 debut, though parts of \u201cPro Emendatione Malefactorum\u201d occasionally grate through loftily ambitious reprisal. I do find that the overall mix feels less punchy and impactful this time around, but as the electronic soundscape remains lush and engaging, minor production gripes hardly detract from the experience.<\/p>\n

II is such an impressive evolutionary leap for Cruce Signatus<\/strong> that even its micro adjustments impress. That each track now naturally blends into the next, eschewing the debut\u2019s odd fades to total silence, is nearly as strong a signal of this project\u2019s growth as its bold leaps into unprecedented emotional territory. Moreover, II fully assures me that this project has more than enough juice to play out its full, four-act structure. If Frazer\u2019s ambitions are this high halfway through, I\u2019m ecstatic to hear where this project goes by its end. Just don\u2019t wait until then to jump in, because II stands shoulder to shoulder with the best records of the burgeoning synth metal scene on its own merits. Oh, and I\u2019ll retract what I said three years ago: I\u2019ll take another three Pillaging Villagers<\/strong> records, please.<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> 4.0\/5.0
DR:<\/strong> 5 | Format Reviewed:<\/strong> PCM
Label:<\/strong> Self Release<\/a>
Websites:<\/strong> crucesignatus.bandcamp.com<\/a> | facebook.com\/crucesignatusband<\/a>
Releases Worldwide:<\/strong> April 4th, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the scant morsels of criticism I offered to Pillaging Villagers\u2019 self-titled 2022 opus was not explicitly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[743,12294,12295,10269,12296,77,12297,12298,269,12299,6080,6082,4264,12300,12301,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-18495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-743","9":"tag-4-0","10":"tag-american-metal","11":"tag-apr25","12":"tag-cruce-signatus","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-ii","15":"tag-instrumental-metal","16":"tag-music","17":"tag-pillaging-villagers","18":"tag-review","19":"tag-reviews","20":"tag-self-release","21":"tag-synth-metal","22":"tag-synthwave","23":"tag-uk","24":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}