“Human Error” is the latest full-length release by Crones, an excellent Canadian band. It’s an appropriate follow-up to “Aghast,” their outstanding debut released in 2019, heavily promoted with singles like “Dirt,” Vegas Years,” and “Arsenic,” all published earlier this year. Soundwise, Crones combines many different but complementary music genres to illustrate such rich and luxurious sonic imagery. Perhaps alternative rock comes to mind first, but you’ll also notice how some of the finest properties borrowed from garage, grunge, stoner, psych, art rock, and post-punk found their way into this sonic equation. All these styles are vividly hearable in these ten songs, and Crones use their vital ingredients as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to uplift their latest material on an entirely new level while remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. Therefore, these experimentations with many different but complementary music genres resulted in a comprehensive collection built upon catchy, memorable, engaging tracks, suitable for even those listeners stumbling upon mentioned music genres for the first time.
These experimentations are notable throughout the entire material. For example, tracks like “Arsenic” or “Pullin’ Saw” showcase their experimentations with alternative and retro classic rock, songs like “Dust Cloud” and “Guts, Glory, Gary” lean towards late 60s garage rock, “Automatic Writing” and “Vegas Years” combine some of the finest alternative and indie rock elements, “Dirt” shines with feral punk rock energy, and “Disembowled Palomino,” “Sickly Hulk,” and “Insects Always Die Young” embrace psych rock aesthetics. Each composition arrives with a perfect structure, garnered with many intricate segments, brilliant ideas, and outstanding orchestrations. They also compiled the entire material, thinking about the energy, dynamics, mood, and ambiance. “Human Error” carries many memorable moments where calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal ambiance collides with the generously distorted, abrasive, raw, heavy, powerful instrumentations. Each vocal, sonic, and rhythmic maneuver shapes a lush atmosphere, grabbing the listener by the collar and refusing to let go even after this fascinating full-length album ends.
As soon as you press play, you’ll notice that excellent vocal performance serves as a centerpiece, commanding attention and guiding the listener from scratch to finish. The impressive vocal range seamlessly balances low, mid, and high notes, emphasizing all the segments and instrumentations with precision and finesse. The passionate, sincere, confident, emotive, powerful harmonies perfectly match all the orchestrations in each composition, making this album such a pleasant listening experience worth repeating over and over again. In the meantime, the interplay between rhythm and lead guitars shapes a perfect backdrop for all the vocal articulations to shine upon. You’ll notice how heavily distorted, abrasive, raw chord progressions and riffs resonate on one side while the other shines with many catchy, memorable, engaging themes, melodies, harmonies, leads, accentuations, and other sonic delicacies. The additional keys and synths deliver another collection of ear-appealing sonic maneuvers, spicing things up and enhancing this material to new heights. It’s nearly mindblowing how the vocals match with guitars and keys harmoniously, building a colossal wall of cathartic harmony that will immediately convince even the pickiest listeners to spin “Human Error” over again.
Of course, “Human Error” wouldn’t sound this good without the rock-solid rhythm section. You’ll hear how equally complex, vividly hearable, warm-sounding basslines roar beneath guitars and keys, offering more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth while simultaneously binding everything with drums. The experienced drummer uplifts everything on an entirely new level, keeps the remainder of the band in line, and dictates groove and tempo with carefully assembled, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated moderate beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics. The rhythm section plays a significant role because it serves as an adequate platform for various guitar and keyboard virtuosities. Crones sound marvelous together, and their symbioses are notable during every song. Perhaps this material shines with some nostalgic 60s garage rock, 70s classic rock, 80s indie, and 90s alternative, but the band incorporated sound quality that meets all the trends in contemporary music production. You’ll notice even the tiniest details and nuances lurking around thanks to the professionally done production.
Crones are not joking around with their music and that’s more than evident from the initial notes and beats till the end. “Human Error” is not just a music album – it’s a showcase of their songwriting, composing, arranging, and producing abilities. They poured heart and soul into this material, resulting in standout tracks like “Arsenic,” “Automatic Writing,” “Dirt,” “Vegas Years,” “Pullin’ Saw,” “Guts, Glory, Gary,” and “Insects Always Die Young.” Still, you should pay close attention to the entire album, because “Human Error” shines with some of the finest ideas and instrumentations you’ll hear this year. It’s an impressive alternative rock album with many retro sonic maneuvers that will become your go-to whenever you need expertly assembled and flawlessly performed rock music. “Human Error” is available on all streaming platforms. Don’t miss it!
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