Band:	Crisis Sigil
Album:	God Cum Poltergeist
Style:	Grindcore, Industrial metal
Release date:	July 2023

01. Wet Dream
02. Skybox
03. Plasmageist
04. 9 Moon Damage
05. Blood Semen Box-Elder
06. Portal Zero
07. Real Home
08. Right Of First Refusal On All New Units
09. Record Of Demolition X Month X Day
10. Halo Generator Breaking Down
11. Meridian Verge
12. Re: Weapon
13. Aging Net Artist
14. God Cum Poltergeist

There’s just something about cybergrind in the morning that tends to go excellently with your waffles or breakfast cereal. No? OK, maybe it’s just me.

Electronic musician Ada Rook has already earned a fair degree of street cred in the more underground circles for her work over the past several years. Ms. Rook’s sound varies considerably, sometimes being a bit quiet and contemplative, at other points noticeably abrasive, noisey, and violent. She has additionally proven herself as not merely an able musician, but a considerably potent vocalist (read: shrieker / screamer) as well. Is there more? Why yes, thank you for asking. Ada has also demonstrated herself to be quite fond of collaborations, having made various noise and vocal contributions for several artists now, including Industrial Rap Goddess, otherwise known as Backxwash.

Few collaborations to be found with Crisis Sigil, though, a new project that’s all almost all Ada, save some drumming and some backup vocals from a "Melody Marrow" individual. On the God Cum Poltergeist debut (lovely title, eh?), clocking in at just under a half hour, Ms. Rook crafts a brief, though effective assault of angsty, punishing, digitized grind. This is and has the capacity to be such a fun style, and it’s really neat as a grind fan to hear instrumentation that would otherwise be done with guitar, bass, and drums translated to a purely electronic medium. The problem is, most cybergrind is ass and ends up being an absolute chaotic mess with garbage production.

Thankfully, Ada Rook has this unique approach to grind pretty firmly locked in with God Cum Poltergeist. Make no mistake, now: this is definitely a chaotic fucking release. But with Ada it’s more of a controlled chaos. She manifests here almost as the ancient Goddess Eris: capable of great discord and volatility, but also able to restrain herself and contain her rage when the mood suits her. The music Ada crafts with Crisis Sigil walks a fine line between constantly feeling as though it’s going to run off the rails and become a trashy mess, but never really doing so. This helps to maintain an effective atmosphere of suspense and anxiety that does a lot to complement the frantic nature of the music. The tracks can easily appear to blend together here, and it’s easy to lose track of which one you’re on if you’re not paying attention, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. God Cum Poltergeist is nothing less than a barrage, and quite a satisfying one at that, so the fact that things merge together a bit here actually works rather in its favor.

Ada Rook ties another knot in her belt with Crisis Sigil that manages to both make allusions to some of the work she’s already done while also transcending that work to become its own unique entity. With a deft manipulation of songwriting and electronic music techniques, excellent, crisp production, and a pleasantly varied vocal delivery from Ada (including some almost lullabye – ish cleans!), God Cum Poltergeist is a lovely little entry into a new chapter for this highly talented Electro Queen. Is there more where this came from, Ada? I sure hope so. Mark this guy as one satisfied, if slightly bludgeoned customer.

FFO (For Fans Of)…

Psudoku
Youth Code
Pharmakon