Conjuring piercing screams over red-hot distortion guitars, sprinkling dreamlike choruses on head-banging drops, while washing choir verses across blast beats, chrysifloga knows his way around the darker corners of one’s psyche. Transitioning from high falsettos to menacingly low growls in a heartbeat, the Los Angeles based singer, songwriter, and producer unlocks a world soundtracked by Nu-metal and Rock, with hints of occult influences in his lyrics. Exuding a mysterious personality behind dramatic dark washed-out lipstick and eyeshadow, his silent confidence and subtle charm immediately takes center stage.
Surprisingly gentle and soft-spoken off stage and studio, one can’t help but sense an unpredictable polarity from his intense look and sound. “People always find ways to stay relevant in societal norms. But there are those who struggle with it, and I wish I was allowed to be myself, cos I knew I wouldn't be accepted if I did. That’s a big part of my music. It’s not defined. Humans change all the time, so how do you expect to define anything?”
Chrysi (as friends call him) released two demos on SoundCloud in Aug 2022, both tracks entirely produced and recorded by himself on his laptop, in a shockingly fast time of 10 days.
[Burn Me Alive] - a heart-pumping track inspiring loss of control right out of the first line: “I got some wires loose inside my head.” delivered in a comfortably psychotic tone. The chorus goes into a catchy, almost anime-like melody, before switching back and forth between sharp screams and clean vocals in the following verse, displaying dual personalities. “I am the f**king golden flame.”
[Same For You and Me] delivers a haunting choir hook in the intro, taking the listener straight into the flipside of a church lit with candles, followed by a chorus sung entirely in falsetto, expressing his cynicism: “Can’t you see it’s the same for you and me?”, then transitioning smoothly into a chilling scream.
“I always viewed music as colors. Straight-up heavy metal is a lot of black and gray, but I love brighter colors too, depending on what I’m feeling. If music wants to naturally go somewhere else during the writing process, I let it take me on a ride.”
It’s also the product of a quiet, long grind. He worked as a session drummer for the beginning of his music career, before teaching himself to write and produce. He released an EP in 2020 under the moniker “Acid” in the rap genre, and collaborated on three other tracks, garnering just over a million views in total across streaming platforms. He soon scrapped that persona and developed an entirely new sound and brand, combining childhood influences to the likes of Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, and Dir En Grey, resulting in the current chrysifloga.
Armed with his definition (or none) of Rock, chrysifloga is amongst the freshest and most anticipated artists today. It’s dark, but beautiful. Watch out for the burn me alive album later this year.