Maple Cross - Creo Tempus

Maple Cross was already a cult band in the ’90s, and such status rarely disappears with age. Creo Tempus is proof of that, being part of Bestial Burst’s Thrashing Relics series, which has given listeners the chance to revisit several old Finnish thrash bands through reissued demos.

Creo Tempus contains no fewer than four old releases from 1988–1991. The CD also comes with a collage of period photographs and a generous amount of text providing background on the memories and moments of that era.

Since its early years, Maple Cross has broken up and reformed several times. The lineup has changed so completely that, as far as I know, there are no fully original members left in the current incarnation. These demos, however, represent the band’s genuine first wave.

Maple Cross is simultaneously very much a product of its time and somewhat experimental. There is plenty of playful messing around at times, along with some unusual details, although they never go quite as far down the S.O.D. route.

The basic approach, on the other hand, is thrash in the footsteps of Metallica and their contemporaries, combining good production with appropriate thrash vocals and suitably sharp riffs.

Listening to Maple Cross’s demos makes it clear that there was plenty of enthusiasm for making music. At the same time, it has to be said that the songwriting pen was not particularly sharp.

The riffs are decent enough, but the songs themselves are rarely, if ever, genuinely good. For the most part, this is typical demo-level material: just play, make some noise and get something done. Whether anyone actually likes it is secondary.

Perhaps this is one reason why Maple Cross never grew into the next Stone, let alone a major international success story. The constant lineup changes undoubtedly played a role as well, and those may themselves have been a consequence of the songwriting.

Creo Tempus is above all a cultural document, since few people would otherwise have a chance to get their hands on demos like these in physical form. There is nothing particularly significant here in terms of the songs themselves, so, to borrow the language of the old record-review cliché, this is stuff for the fans and collectors.

Track list:
1. Death Shall Have No Domination
2. New Way to Kill
3. First Invasion
4. All Saint's Day
5. And Then...
6. Day in the Grave
7. Colosseum
8. Sacrificed Humanity
9. Escape from Reality
10. Mesmerize
11. Il Duce
12. True or False
13. The Force of an Eagle
14. The New Picture of the Universe
15. The First Last Town
16. Creo Tempus
17. Recoming
18. Never Ending Dance
19. Something to Believe in
20. Death Shall Have No Domination (Version -91)
21. Going Around

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/Maplecrossofficial/
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Maple_Cross/736