Description
Cruz was formed in Barcelona in 2012 with the idea of starting a band that mixed heavy and aggressive punk with dark old-school metal such as Celtic Frost and Bathory. However, from very early on, their sound became more aligned with the classic Swedish death metal style.
In 2013, the first Cruz lineup was completed, and with that lineup, a self-titled demo was recorded that same year and then released in 2015 by Raw War Tapes. In 2015, now with a different lineup, Cruz entered Moontower Studios and recorded their first album, Culto Abismal, which was released a year later by To The Death Records, Sentient Ruin Laboratories, and Selfmadegod Records. A European tour followed right after the album’s release.
During the following years, after numerous gigs and various lineup changes, a new Cruz lineup was established in 2020: Imanol and Xavi, the only remaining original members, on guitar and drums, respectively, alongside guitarist Michele, bassist Simone, and vocalist Narcís. With this lineup intact, in 2021 did they record a new album, Confines de la Cordura, once again at Moontower Studios.
Featuring lyrics both in Spanish and Catalan, Confines de la Cordura absolutely CRUSHES from the very beginning: classic early ’90s Swedish-style death metal this may be, but Cruz pump it full of an urgency and electricity that simply can’t be denied. The songwriting simply stuns with its earworming flow, with malevolently majestic leads riding atop the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse gallop, and Narcís’ annunciation dripping malice across each one of these seven stout tracks. And while “Swedish death metal” may conjure images of the usual suspects – Entombed, Dismember, and/or Grave – it’s perhaps more accurate to liken Cruz to the idiom’s culter names like Seance, Desultory, or especially Unanimated; the obsidian gleams as brightly as the blood-red here on Confines de la Cordura.
The dark-horse death metal album of the year? Nuclear Winter confidently places its bets on Cruz‘s Confines de la Cordura.