This is truly a masterpiece.

Every instrument plays its own unique things, and it blends together perfectly. Just like its a symbiosis between the musicians. It has great dynamics ranging from beautiful clean-parts to tight, powerful parts. The guitar riffs are complex and original, very typical Hot Cross I´d say. And its got many nice clean parts with screaming upon it as a contrast. The drumming has a lot of diversity. The vocals are raw and unique, and with a lot of angst and energy, and he screams out short powerful phrases in moments you don´t expect. I can understand people disliking the unpolished, unmelodic "in-your-face"-sound though. I usually don´t think so much about the bass when listening to music. It just is there, necesserily enough. But on this album its so much more. It´s not just plodding along with the music, just to make it bold. It´s got independent lines that ranges with deep feeling and powerful rhytm.

The best aspect of this cd in my opinion is the "asymmetry" in the music, or the surprise-moments if you can call it that. The rhytm is often fractured, but in a good way. And the new tacts starts again when you don´t expect it. Along with untypical build-ups, it makes the music interesting.

The only bad things I have to say about this album is that the production-quality isn´t the best, but i´ll say that this makes the heart and soul of the album. And not all of the tracks are classics, but you´re gonna search a long time to find an album who can brag about that.

All in all I beg on my knees and pray for many others to buy this album and then have a reincarnation in their music-weekday for themselves.

I had the distinct honour of seeing Hot Cross in Toronto last July with about 15 other people, and that remains one of the most amazing concert experiences I've ever had. This band is just as phenomenal on cd as they are live, so if they come anywhere near your area, I strongly advise you go to the show.

Even after owning this cd for over a year, it remains on my most-played list, and for good reason. Cryonics is a fantastic cd - an all-around hands-down amazing release. Pick it up, and prepare yourself for one hell of a tour-de-force.

sXe