Bastard Cröss

Bastard Cross — Crossripper | ATHENAEUM OF SIN

Bastard Cröss, an American Blackened Metal Punk band, an assault steeped in horror movie aesthetics and blasphemous history. On 31st October 2025, the band unleashed their feral debut full‑length, Crossripper, released through Morbid and Miserable Records

Bastard Cröss, Crossripper Review: This review will evaluate every aspect of the album, from its intricate musical composition to its production. Our analysis will provide valuable insights to help you determine if this album is worth adding to your collection.

$Bastard Cross — Crossripper Album: shattered crucifix splintered across desecrated altar, iron nails twisted into serpents, skeletal preacher cloaked in ash raising a jagged censer, blackened smoke curling into inverted halos, rust‑stained chains coiled around fractured stone pillars, storm‑lit sky torn by lightning cruciform, band logo carved in bone above, title “Crossripper” gouged below.$

The First Three Sins, The Summary

The First Sin, The Strings/Keys: The rhythm guitar carves serrated backbone riffs that slice straight through the music, while the lead guitar snarls jagged and mid‑range heavy, hacking the mix like rusted chains dragged across stone. The Second Sin, The Vocals: Dual vocals erupt as venomous hisses and blasphemous curses, spat with deliberate abrasion. The Third Sin, The Percussions: The drums unleash chaotic speed‑of‑light thrash, a storm of blast beats and relentless double‑time rhythms pounding like collapsing gallows.

The Fourth Sin, Overall Discussion

Opening Invocation

The album Crossripper by Bastard Cröss kicks off right away. When you hit play, the first hymn, Parasitic, bursts forth. It brings raw, unholy riffs and snarling vocals to the altar. These pull you deep into a dark sound pit at once.

Chapter of Nine Blasphemies

You sink further with the next eight tracks. This makes nine songs in all. The full release lasts forty minutes. It pulls from early blackened thrash ferocity with a nod to crust punkish rawness. This unholy, blasphemic debut blends black metal’s cold edge with thrash’s fast riffs. Speed metal ramps up the pace with sharp guitars. Crust punk injects grit and anger from its punk roots.

Bastard Cröss draws inspiration from horror movies and draws from religious history, notably dark and violent documented events which shaped not only the lyrical themes but also the sonic texture — chaotic, oppressive, and theatrical in the most satisfyingly obscene and pleasing way.

Smoke, Ash, and Burning Crosses

Crossripper, nails that underground and unpolished atmosphere feel. Crossripper captures that old-school raw and DIY energy sound and cassette vibe. No shine here, just this aggressive-abrasive crude spitting out of the listener’s speakers. The atmosphere is pure blasphemic theatre, the production leaves no air to breathe — only smoke, ash, and the stench of burning crosses.

Clarity? Forget it. A rotting atmosphere rules… no room to breathe…. …no mercy …not for the faint of heart, it’s a rite of rupture, a tearing open of sacred wounds.

Headless Gallop and Midnight’s Shadow

Take the fourth hymn, Headless the guitar solo rips through the music, while the riffs and drums gallop like a wild possessed horse, riding through the night. Then there’s the seventh hymn, this hymn echoes the one-man act Midnight, as if this hymn were written by him or a tribute to the band — then the drums near the end!

Voices and Instruments from the Abyss

Bastard Cröss’ devilmanship is tight, the songs lock in place, instruments fit perfect. The band’s distinctive edge derives from its two vocalists, who channel the venom of early black and death metal into a dual‑throated assault. Frontman Heathen Chevalier, on vocals and rhythm guitar, embodies the death‑metal abyss — his guttural growls and venomous hisses spat like curses, deliberately abrasive to match the blasphemic tone. His rhythm guitar carves serrated backbone riffs, slicing through the ceremony with precision.

Lead guitarist and co‑vocalist Blasphemous Axe answers with blackened snarls, his voice a rasping scourge that cuts across Chevalier’s subterranean growls. His guitar tone is dirty, jagged, and mid‑range heavy, hacking through the mix like rusted chains rather than polished steel. Chaotic solos and sharp tremolo runs erupt like ritual incantations, his snarled vocal lines deepening the band’s blackened fury. Beheader of Priests’ bass riffs form a grinding undertone rather than a separate melodic voice — more about weight and atmosphere than clarity. Infernal Bastard’s drums and percussion are speed‑of‑light thrash, with blast beats and relentless double‑time rhythms. The drum production emphasizes aggression over precision, making the drums feel like collapsing gallows rather than clean studio hits.

The guitar riffs don’t just play — they serrate and bite, as if dragged them across the altar, dirty, jagged and rusted, until sparks fly. Vocals are minimally processed, keeping the raw, live‑ritual feel intact. The drums pound like gallows collapsing under their weight.

Heirs to the Blasphemic Continuum

Overall, Crossripper is a dark and evil fruit of art, fans of Dissection, Sodom, Slayer, Anti-cinex, Discharge, Power from Hell, Midnight, Venom, Bathory, Toxic Holocaust, Nifelheim, and Hellripper. A release that was cleverly inked, composed, each hymn is different — in sound, atmosphere, and lyrics. This will make you whiplash your neck under a pale moonlight, the music will refuse to let go “It’s loud, ugly, raw, and unpleasing to the ears.”

Closing Rite: Behead the Priest

The album closes with the hymn Behead the Priest, leaves its mark as the priest’s head rolls into the basket. The music fades yet lingers, echoing like smoke after the fire. It is not just an ending, but a benediction — a silence heavy with blasphemy, a closing rite that seals the ceremony. As we conclude this review, we reflect upon the final sins.

The Fifth Sin, The Memorabilia

For me, Bastard Cröss don’t play music, nor do they copy anyone. Crossripper is not simply an album — it is a ritual offering, a dark fruit born from the lineage of blasphemic ancestors. Bastard Cröss stand apart, conjuring rather than copying, yet their sound resonates within the continuum: Venom and Bathory as primal sparks, Toxic Holocaust as the punk‑filth kin, Midnight cloaked in satanic aura, and Nifelheim as the blackened torch-bearers. Out of this unholy family tree, Bastard Cröss carve an altar of their own — raw, dirty, aggressive, and meant to be played loud, as if celebrating one of the unholy feast days.

The Sixth Sin, The Artwork

The artwork is defiantly old‑school… stark, raw, and fitting. What more can be said?

The Seventh Sin, Disrelish

There is little to disrelish in the musical offerings of Crossripper. Each hymn carries its atmosphere, its venom, and together they form a blasphemic whole that refuses to let go. Thus, we seal this review of Crossripper — a record loud, ugly, raw, and unpleasing to the faint of heart, yet pleasing in its obscenity to those who seek it. I extend my gratitude for your time in reading this article, and I encourage you to explore the unholy work of Morbid and Miserable Records and Bastard Cröss, who continue to carve their altar in the underground.

The Hymns

01. Parasitic
02. Crossripper
03. Lycan Knights
04. Headless
05. Satanic Pandemonium
06. Sarcophague
07. Demons at Midnight
08. Phantom Pestilence
09. Behead the Priest