Crossed - Vida Quieta

Labels: Zegema Beach Records

Formats: Vinyl/Digital

Release Date: 19 Apr 2024

Tracklist:

1. Ceniza En La Boca

2. Vaho

3. Mala Suerte

4. Nostalgia

Before I jump back into my retrospective ZBR release series for a bit, I wanted to give you at least a glimpse into one of the label's up-coming releases. Spanish screamo/hardcore band Crossed (featuring members of Boneflower, Descubriendo A Mr Mime and Eros + Massacre) released one of my favourite records of 2022 in the form of Morir. Vida Quieta is their latest EP and it follows their split EP with Vibora, which also came out in 2022. I haven't even scratched the surface yet when it comes to 2024 releases but the excitement is definitely real!

The four songs that make up Vida Quieta last nearly ten minutes, so there’s no time for apprehension. Opener ‘Ceniza En La Boca’ is a noisy affair with throat-shredding screams joined by instrumentation that starts off like some kind of hazy dirge, before launching into metallic hardcore that’s akin to Converge and Cult Leader. The final bars of sunken clean vocals and cymbal-led intensity drag you nicely into ‘Vaho’, which is more technical guitar-wise and the song as a whole delivers a sound that’s closer to progressive death metal, at least during it’s first half. It’s latter half is a lot more melodic with chilled-out vocals taking over from the heaviness prior.

‘Mala Suerte’ is more glitch-inspired, with electronic beats joining up with the distorted heaviness that Crossed employ on this EP. It’s one of those songs that needs to be heard in context alongside the rest of the release, just so it can be properly appreciated. What I’m trying to say (in a very round-about way) is that it sounds very different to the rest of the EP yet it exhibits the experimental approach of Crossed. EP closer and currently available single ‘Nostalgia’ doesn’t allow for any moments of comfort either, as it goes from grindcore, to semi-spoken word/almost rap, to deathcore depravity all in little over three minutes. 

I have literally just tried my best to describe what I hear when listening to Vida Quieta and I’m still nowhere near. My advice would be to check out single ‘Nostalgia’ and then eagerly await it’s full release later this month. You will not be disappointed. Crossed are genius!

You can stream and purchase the single 'Nostalgia' here:-

Pre-orders for the up-coming LP release can be placed directly with Crossed above.

Crossed - https://www.facebook.com/crossedxband

Vinyl copies will soon be available from Zegema Beach Records below:-

CAN/INTL - http://www.zegemabeachrecords.com/zegema-beach-releases

USA - https://zbrusa.com/collections/zbr-releases

Zegema Beach Records - https://www.facebook.com/zegemabeachrecords