Profound Lore Records (2009)
I am so fucking tired of all those whiners complaining about the downfall of the scene. Goddamnit, or Satandamnit if you want, black metal has never been better with such bands as Abigor, Funeral Mist, Portal (death metal?), Slagmaur, Deathspell Omega, Enthral, Marduk, Watain, Mayhem, Merrimack, Geist and many others… All bands have given us great releases the last few years. So, stop fucking whining… Things were NOT better back in the early 90’s. The only thing is that we were younger, so much younger than today (damn, don’t remember who sang that line…).
Getting down to business, I must admit that I always become very sceptic towards such infosheet-lines as “…named by SPIN.com as one of the “top 5 metal bands you should know”, and “…which even ended up on the number 2 spot on singer-songwriter Ryan Adam’s top 9 albums of 2008 best-of list alongside such acts as Coldplay, Mariah Carey, and yeah, Metallica…”. First off, what the fuck is SPIN.com and what does it have to do with extreme metal, even black metal? Second, who the fuck is Ryan Adams? And when did Metallica write good songs? Back in the friggin’ 80’s… So, being a doubting Thomas I pressed play and allowed these ca. 77 minutes seven-tracker to slowly dwell upon me. Meanwhile I read the review in the new Scream magazine (Norway’s biggest metal magazine). With the writer giving the album 2 out of 6, writing one of the worst penned reviews I’ve seen in quite a while, I though that I should perhaps give the new Krallice album 5 or even 6 out of 6. You know, when the mainstream press give bad scores, there must be something great about it. Let me just quote a couple of lines from said review, roughly translated by yours truly: “The abstract form of black metal that is presented here becomes too little happening and bleak, and even though I find small glimpses of dark and grim atmospheres every now and then, I become dead bored before each track has reach half point. If you’re a bigger fan of ambient monotony than me, check this out.”
Ambient? C’mon, just because the music doesn’t follow the verse-chorus-verse-chrous-bridge-verse-chorus songwriting tendency, doesn’t mean that it is ambient. Monotone? Well, if you listen to this one or perhaps twice it’s monotone, I dig that. However, “Dimensional Bleedthrough” is a steady grower and with patience you’ll be able to discover what I suspect is the real truth behind this release, namely that Krallice plays melodic black metal with melodies hidden behind a wall of what seems to be repetitiveness. Yes, this album feels like one long song for the impatient. But a song like “Aribity” is far from monotone. It’s rather a pompous, bombastic run through musical landscapes reminding me of Tool and Mastodon, aside the sound, obviously. The sound on the album is quite typical black metal, read Wolves In The Throne Room meeting newer Enslaved, topped with shrieky vocals. Now, sound and shrieky vocals are far from enough to tag music black metal, but it does help. To me black metal is the combination of lyrics, music and sound. And no, I’m not one of those who think that an album has to sound like “Transilvanian Hunger” to be black metal, but is surely helps, hah. Mercyful Fate’s “Don’t Break The Oath” is more evil than Deathspell Omega’s “FAS”… But I guess Ryan Adams hasn’t heard about Deathspell Omega, so let’s rather rephrase and say that Mercyful Fate’s “Don’t Break The Oath” is more evil than Dimmu Borgir’s “Death Cult Armageddon”.
Krallice’s “Dimenstional Bleedthrough” is an album that demands something from its listeners. But as with most great albums, they don’t speak out loud the first few spins. Spin? SPIN.com? Who the fuck is Ryan Adams? I don’t care. Nor do I care about the biggest Norwegian metal zine’s opinion. Krallice speaks to me, makes me want to visit the majestic mountains at my homeplace late autumn evenings… Yes, once the album has inserted its poison into your veins, you’re addicted. And said “Aribity” track is one monster I can listen to over and over again.
www.myspace.com/krallice
www.profoundlorerecords.com
Composed by Roy Kristensen