The genesis of Crossed Streams began in late 2008 out of a sheer desire to join the sound of melodic death metal, with the speed and riffs of late '80's thrash metal. It's a style of music that Crossed Streams has never grown tired of, and now almost 30 years after the advent of thrash, has begun to evoke an almost warm and fuzzy "Baseball, Mom, and Apple Pie" feel to it...provided that Mom baked razor blades into the apple pie, and is waiting just around the corner for you with the baseball bat...but I digress...
Work officially began in January 2009 on a single track titled "On The Battlefield", a homage to the men and women soldiers currently serving abroad. They've seen real-life horrors only imagined by the rest of us in the gruesome lyrics of our favourite bands. Sometimes it's good to break free of being desensitized to that sort of thing and just tip your cap to those who've actually lived through those nightmares...Anyhoo, the recording of "On The Battlefield" became the germ of the unofficially released "FLOATING DOWN DENIAL" EP, which was mostly a convenient way to bookend the first four Crossed Streams songs, "On The Battlefield", "Floating Down Denial", "Derelict", and the anthem for all of you who have just wanted to go absolutely batty on a crazy driver on a highway, the road rage epic "FuckemKillemDead". As with most new bands the first steps were shaky, but there were some glimmers of light there that evolved into what has become the band's first official release- "SOMNIPHOBIA".
"Somniphobia" was officially launched October 1st 2010. It's a loose concept album in that there is a general theme in each song about sleep, fear of sleep, nightmares, and sleep disorders, but the original plan of having an entire album that spanned the average eight hours or so of sleep one gets in a night, combined with cramming in all the horrible stuff that COULD happen to you didn't make much sense once it began. I mean, if less than half of that stuff happened to me in one night I'd give up trying to sleep and go watch a movie or something...you dig? So "Somniphobia" became what it is...an LP with a theme, but with a few twists here and there. Most importantly, it showcased the progression musically of Crossed Streams. More speed, more melody, and more...mood.
The riffs keep coming for the next release in 2011- the "LUNARTIC" EP...
Oh, in case you were wondering about influences there are way too many to list fully but looking at a mash of bands like Kreator, At The Gates, and even Bauhaus would be a good start...
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