Crawl - No Way Out (Album Review)

Crawl, which dates back to 1995, returns

After their reunion, they presented their new album “No Way Out” to the audience. The band describes itself as follows:

“After a long hiatus, Crawl reunited in 2019 and re-released their debut EP “Womb” on Combat Records. A series of live performances followed, leading the members to start writing and recording music to create a new full-length album. With the help of THC: Music, Crawl achieved this goal and released their new album “No Way Out” on June 27, 2025. This new album stays true to Crawl's groundbreaking industrial metal roots, while appealing to new-age metal listeners.”

Let's talk about the album No Way Out

43 Minutes of Mid-Tempo, Intense and Industrial

This 43-minute-long player aims to reflect the band's comeback in the best possible way. The album is closely related to groove metal in terms of genre, featuring a brutal yet understandable vocal style. The songs are not very lively; they are more mid-tempo and static. However, with various effects and vocal transitions, they have managed to reflect the industrial metal atmosphere successfully.

Thomas Danz and his Vocal Performance

Thomas Danz's deep groove vocals are quite successful. From time to time, this vocal style is diversified with effects, and this adds dynamism to the album. I found the vocal performance quite strong.

Drum Tones and Riffs

As for the drum performance, a very electronic sounding tone is preferred. Maybe a drum machine was used. I'm not a fan of this, but it doesn't sound strange considering that this genre is a modernised branch of metal.

Jason and Tim's stop-start riff structures add an energetic atmosphere to the songs. I wrote these lines before I read the band's introduction, and I was going to add “resembles these bands,” but their introduction reads as follows: “Those who like these bands should listen to them.” So I would like to add here: You can feel influences from Fear Factory, Anaal Nathrakh, Samael, and The Kovenant.

If I Summarize

Electronic themes in balance, there are fewer electronic themes than I expected, which is quite pleasing for me. Because I don't like too many electronic elements in metal music. The musicality is at a very good level; years of experience show themselves in the song structures and vocal writing.

Drum Tones Open for Discussion

Could the drum tones have been a bit better? Sure, maybe. But as I said, this seems to be a conscious choice. In No Way Out, lyrics inspired by themes of fear, misanthropy and chaos are presented with a production that emphasises heavy riffs and industrial touches.

The Cover Reveals Itself: NO Exit!

A simple cover is preferred. I think there is a nuclear reference in the image. The tones used and the clothes worn by the character on the cover gave me this feeling. As the end of the world is approaching, there is no way out...

8/10