I’d place Crimson Clean Sweep as a healthy middle between Slipknot & Cannibal Corpse. You know, not as gory and freaky and not as ashamed to show us what’s behind the mask. Now after you’ve judged a guy whose only skill is typing letters a little faster than average, let’s get on to Kill Traffic. Time to embrace that irrational voice inside your head.
Kill Traffic is a smashing reference to the violent aggression that dominated nu-metal, but with plenty of meaning behind the track. It doesn’t embrace the stupidity of Limp Bizkit, but aggregates the catchiness to make it a mind favorite in no time. On asking Cole from CCS about the inspirations for the group:
Apart from Slipknot & Korn, we’re big fans of Motionless in White, Deftones, Metallica, Orgy, and Beartooth.
And it shows, because the track is not kind on your neck. A true metalhead would have a smile across their face in the first 8 seconds of the song, with a 10’ radius to lose their minds. The instruments are riveting, and has that Iowa energy with none of the fuss. Their Spotify cover image might put you on edge, so I asked Cole about it:
When we had our most recent photoshoot when we decided to go all in on the spooky aesthetics, we were just hanging out and thought it’d be cool to have alter egos/stage names! We really didn’t put much thought into the alter egos and truthfully, we don’t really use them on stage, but maybe in the future we’ll make use of them.
That’s right. If you do see them on stage the first time with your parents, remember to remind grandma that she might need to hold her medication close for the second concert. Kill Traffic is a song destined to carve a space in your head, and be on loop for days on end. Now for the meaning of the song, as narrated by the creator:
The twisted tale of the track
Before I joined the band, the boys had to remove their other guitarist for predatory actions against girls (many of which were underage). I also had to remove a predator from a band I was in before Crimson, plus our local scene has had many problems with these degenerates having places of power and respect.
It makes us absolutely sick, and we decided to write about it. We wanted absolutely no subtlety for how we felt about these sick, disgusting individuals, plus the reaction for the song has been amazing when we’ve played it live! The song definitely seems to resonate with people deeply.
If anything should be getting killed in traffic, it’s the predators from our species. Don’t blame the animals. Their last single Bleed had a different shape, and they’ve decided to morph since then.
The first and biggest change since Bleed was the addition of me to the band! I’d seen them play numerous times and my other bands had shared the stage with them, but I finally got to join them around the beginning of this year! The next biggest thing was probably our attention to the spooky aesthetic.
Originally, Colin (our singer) was the only one who would take on the scary aesthetic, but we decided if we wanted to stand apart from our peers we had to go all in. Also, we’ve been focusing on making music that has variety, but stays consistent in the overall goth/horror aesthetic and sound.
Well thank the metal gods for Cole, and the sound Crimson Clean Sweep seem to have found. It sways from punk energy to this metal depth that really seem to change the dynamics.
Bring the noise
Kill Traffic is just a taste of blood to your palette if you’re waiting for more. A fitting tribute to the late great Joey Jordinson, the track sounds like. Couldn’t be a more perfect analogy to give the demigod that walked amongst us. Crimson Clean Sweep know what path they’re going down, so either join them or get out of the way. Here’s a teaser comment from Cole just to add to your angst:
We for sure have one more single coming out, but we’ve been tossing around the idea of doing an EP after that! Who knows? Only the future can tell!
Road rage to our playlists here! Not really, drive safe.
Discovered via http://musosoup.com
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Self professed metalhead, moderately well read. If the music has soul, it's whole to me. The fact that my bio could have ended on a rhyme and doesn't should tell you a lot about my personality.
