J-Metal Reviews: Crowley "Whisper of The Evil"

By Badman

Sorry for my long absence metalheads, but Badman’s reviews are back with a vengeance! This time around, I’ll be getting straight into the nitty-gritt, so let’s get straight to it! This week I’m serving up another legendary dose of J-Metal royalty for you all. With their vile satanic lyrics, they pummeled the Aichi Prefecture (Nagoya) scene into Heavy Metal submission. I humbly welcome the flaming ghouls from hell: Crowley, and their debut album "Whisper of The Evil"!

"Whisper of The Evil" through and through is clear cut Heavy Metal with a small hint of Speed Metal added. A majority of the tracks are mid-paced and easily digestible, but it doesn’t cease to deliver sonic heaviness. Although the riffs aren’t innovative, they are catchy as hell with a nice flare of darkness to them. Hands down, vocalist Takeshi Iwai’s performance stands out the most! I absolutely fell in love with his voice and vocal delivery. His range is nothing short of phenomenal. The majority of the record showcases Iwai's high level, tight, clean vocals, but in the last track, "Floating Man", he truly shows his versatility. In "Floating Man" Iwai's voice flawlessly transitions from pristinely clean to aggressively distorted to match the song’s intensity. I wish there were more tracks that let this side of his voice shine.

So, what’s this week’s verdict..? A big f**king hell yeah! Crowley is an absolute MUST when it comes to listening to the J-Metal greats— especially this record. It isn’t the heaviest, most badass album by any means, but it’s full of balls-to-the-wall energy and overall awesome songs. Simply put, they will kick your ass and they will make you headbang. They will rock the ever living hell out of you. So get up off your Metal asses and go listen to Crowley’s "Whisper of The Evil"!

Standouts:
Floating Man
Woman In Black
Stalker
Bad Stone
Night Angel

The entire album can be listened to (probably not the most authorized of sources) via the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T5YH4JacJ8