Crippled Black Phoenix: The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature

Although the UK’s Crippled Black Phoenix released their first album in 2007 and plays a brand of music I really like (heavy prog with space rock elements), I had never heard of them until a few months ago. Their August 2024 release, The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature, has helped me make up for lost time. It contains eight tracks from previous albums, but all reworked to one extent or another. I have tried to track down as many of them as I can to compare to the originals, and I enjoy every new version more. That’s rare. I generally think that when a band revisits a tune, it doesn’t exceed the original.

I hear of a lot of Pink Floyd (think of some of the darker elements from More and Animals) mixed with some Eloy (particularly Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes) and Porcupine Tree (particularly In Absentia) on this album. The Floyd influence is unsurprising given that they covered “Echoes� on their 2015 release, New Dark Age, and “Childhood’s End� from Obscured By Clouds as a single.

It’s hard to pick standout tracks because they’re all good, even “(-),� an exercise in mellow atmospherics that I think mainly serves as a palette cleanser in the middle of the album, before moving back into the aggression of Song for the Unloved, the longest tune on the album at more than 14 minutes. It displays a great deal of light and shade as does the opener “We Forgotten Who We Are,� the second longest track. The album closes appropriately with a heavy instrumental, “Blizzard of Horned Cats.�

According to the credits, the band consists of only two members: Justin Greaves, who plays a variety of instruments, and Belinda Kordic on vocals and percussion. They are joined by nearly a dozen guests, including a few who have appeared on some of the band’s previous albums.

If I had heard this album earlier, it likely would have made my top 25 of 2024. Much better late than never, though.

Track Listing
1. We Forgotten Who We Are (11:17)
2. You Put the Devil in Me (6:17)
3. 444 (7:23)
4. Goodnight, Europe, Pt. II (8:37)
5. (-) (4:39)
6. Song for the Unloved (14:21)
7. Whissendine (6:58)
8. Blizzard of Horned Cats (4:43)

Added: January 3rd 2025
Reviewer: Aaron Steelman
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 239
Language: english

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