I really cannot tell if the skeletal sound present on ‘Crysknife’ is an intentional bit of wordplay on the artist’s name. Regardless, bare-bones guitar and a driving groove lead the way on the melancholic ‘Crysknife’, a single by Bearbonez, a one-man musical machine.
Hailing from Rohnert Park in California, Bearbonez is a singer and songwriter who is channeling his great love for the Dune book series on ‘Crysknife’, a single that revolves around the books’ primal sci-fi themes, as well as those on David Bowie’s farewell album Blackstar.
The results are impressive. Evocative, distinctly colored with an unusual mix that is equally off-kilter and well-balanced, sounding alien, but never alienating. The song has quite a beautiful gravity in fact, owing to Bearbonez’s restrained and gentle vocal approach, the bustling rhythm guitar patchwork of strums and riffs, and the song’s sorrowful chord sequences and tight-knit melodies around them.
‘Crysknife’ is a simple, good song that provokes emotions with ease. Solidly mixed with a distinctive sound to its instrumental and voice, and with well-written, fantasy-themed lyrics that could stand on their own if you have no deep knowledge of the lore in the world of Dune, ‘Crysknife’ has endless, sad, alternative rock appeal that can only get shot into the stratosphere if you know what goes on in the books.