It’s rare that a debut album inspires such fervent anticipation, but the thrill surrounding a full-length from Sicksense is concrete. A band who have nurtured their community from seedlings to an army of “Deli-boos” (if you know, you know), Sicksense made instant waves in the metal scene upon the release of their two EPs ‘Kings Today’ and ‘Fools Tomorrow’.
These collections saw their music garner support from metal connoisseurs such as TankTheTech, feature in the ring with ex-NXT and NOAH pro-wrestler Stallion Rogers, and hit Spotify’s Alternative Metal and New Nü playlists alongside other trailblazers in the future of metal. These two small portholes into their vibrant world have turned heads in the industry and metal fandom alike, receiving comparisons to nü-metal titans like Slipknot, Evanescence and Limp Bizkit in the process.
Sicksense have now announced their debut album ‘Cross Me Twice’, news which will see anticipation on all sides finally relieved. With ‘Cross Me Twice’, the band take their nü-metal influences and Frankenstein them into a hydra monster that sees the heads of metalcore, progressive metal and power metal combine into a modern experiment gone very right. The album is all a nü-metal fan could hope for while bringing new color to the genre.
It’s this versatility that sets Sicksense apart in the nü-gen surge. The adventurous ‘Cross Me Twice’ is as fantastically otherworldly with luminous keys and glacial melodies as it is gritty with nü-metal grooves and stomach-lurching djent. Conjurers of jeweled light and chroma, commanders of shadow and moonbeams, Sicksense create such a thickly immersive atmosphere that it feels as though you can see the album just as much as you can hear it.
Frontman Rob The Ripper [Robby J. Fonts] asserts: “We made this album heavier, yet somehow catchier than our prior material. We played it a little safe with our previous sound, keeping it in a comfortable, more traditional sounding nü-metal space with hints of modern metalcore. With ‘Cross Me Twice’, we believe we’ve finally found our sound. It really takes you through a beautiful soundscape journey. We’ll only push ourselves even further from here, too.”
‘Cross Me Twice’ was created amidst a turbulent sea change for the band. Jumping from the harsh winters of Montréal to the suffocating heat of Phoenix was only a small part of the adjustments that Sicksense were facing during the album’s creation, though it opened the door to the band recording it within the sanctuary of their own cocoon.
“We took it upon ourselves to record the majority of the music from our home studio here in Phoenix, AZ,” Robby confirms. “’Cross Me Twice’ is also the first album in Vicky’s [Psarakis, AKA Killer V, frontwoman and keysmeister] career in which she had a bigger role in production. Working with our new producer, Joey Doherty [Falling In Reverse, I Prevail], she left a huge impact on the album’s sound design and sonic atmosphere.”
Themes such as emotional manipulation and villainous scapegoating run like hot blood throughout the album. Lyrically, ‘Cross Me Twice’ reflects the fortitude of a band taking the reins of their own fate, exuding sheer confidence as they work against those who aim to take authority of how they lead their lives. Each track is a catharsis of poison that sheds an armor of scarred skin.
The album’s core is laid bare for all to see on the album’s striking cover: a delicate glass vase of flowers brutalized by a sharpened, chain-wielding bat stained with blood.
“The artwork displays the emotions of something so ugly destroying something beautiful, which tends to happen between people and in relationships – all because of egos, misunderstandings and divisiveness – instead of them coming together, sticking through issues and healing. It’s a symbol of our egos destroying ourselves and the people we’re supposed to love,” Robby reveals, having collaborated with new guitarist Agent Phil [Phillip Lykostratis] on bringing the cover’s concept to life.
Along with Phillip, ‘Cross Me Twice’ also welcomes The Gothfather [Richard Regier] on bass to the line up, which is completed by Sicksense’s percussive stalwart Smokin’ J [Joseph Polizzi] on drums.
Speaking of the line-up changes, Robby comments: “Each former member gradually did not want to commit to working on and investing in Sicksense full-time, so we parted ways with them. All the right pieces were finally put together with this incarnation of Sicksense and the band is feeling stronger and more motivated as a unit than ever before.”
Though the line-up may have changed, it was this shift that was key to holding onto the band’s fundamental ideal of remaining a team no matter what. This is a principle that holds strong foundations in the literal matrimony between Vicky and Robby, a key dynamic of the band which has fuelled Sicksense’s songwriting prowess thanks to the sheer trust and honesty between them.
The enrapturing instrumental talent heard on the album is also an exquisite match to the dual vocals between the couple, which only work to further the multitude of timbre contained within ‘Cross Me Twice’. Both vocalists bring infectious personality to their rapping and unite in primal metal screams, with Vicky also reaching jaw-dropping heights and harmonies with her melodic vocals (which could work to summon angels and hellhounds alike).
‘Cross Me Twice’ will be fully delivered from the Sicksense stratosphere via Earache Records on February 14, 2025.
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