Crop - S.S.R.I.

To be truly heavy, one must translate inner darkness into an outward expression. Without this, you just have sounds, distorted guitar, and heavy-handed drumming; hollow without meaning behind them. Kentucky’s CROP not only understands this assignment, but they deliver it with conviction. The title S.S.R.I leads you to believe that at least some of the members have experience taking psychiatric medication. Lyrically they also deal with addiction and suicidal ideation, all subject matter that is real-life heaviness. At the core, thanks to the weighty wall of overdrive that brings the guitars bulldozing their way into your eardrums, these guys are a sludge band. However, the apocalypse their music invokes is an inward annihilation. 

In the melodic section of the first song, you can hear how “grunge’ is also an underlying influence, but this means the kind of screamed catharsis Kurt Cobain threw himself into on Bleach rather than the baritone warbling of radio rock., A band like Eyehategod is also a fair reference point, though CROP has a wider range of dynamics and is often more introspective. Vocalist March Phillips does sing more than scream on the second song. He howls with a rasp that is not unlike Brian Johnson of AC/DC however Phillips is just more depressed. He belts out his lyrics for songs more intended for accompanying a failed suicide attempt rather than a rally party or jailbreak. Whiskey is Kentucky's most notable export, which could explain some of the grit in his vocal cords here.

Lyrically, things are bleak, and drugs seem to be part of the struggle here; perhaps this comes from the grunge influence. They show more of a doom-leaning lumber to the overdriven stomp that sets '10- 56'. The drumming is more nuanced on this song while the mood of the lyrics that the band paints is that they are sick and tired of most aspects of life, which I deeply appreciate. 'Alone' is about how it's worse to feel lonely with someone than lonely without them and which is yet another addiction that they mention. The vocals feel like an honest outpouring of pain built up that Phillips had to trauma vomit into the vocal booth. 

Last song 'Break' might carry the album's heavy rumble yet, although when the double bass hammering accelerates the tempo to a more manic pace, it feels like its veering slightly from who they have shown themselves to be up until this point in the record. This builds up to the point of even going into a few measures of blackened blast beats which almost feel out of place, but are not a deal breaker, as they have delivered this bleak tapestry of agony so beautifully up until this point and the assumption is that there is a need to prove to themselves they are still a metal band.  Fans of most genres of emotive heavy music should find something to embrace in the emotional outpouring presented here, especially seeing as it’s of the heaviest quality. The album will be released on Friday August 22nd 2025 on Third House Communications.

Review by Wil Cifer