Written Before Listen
Krallice is a black metal band from New York that is known to have a good amount of experimentation with the genre. I only know a slight bit of Krallice’s work but from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty ambitious black metal and if you know me, you know that my favorite types of black metal are the more atmospheric and dark types. Artists like Agalloch and Panopticon come into mind, but without further ado, let’s get into this.
Production
First off, black metal is infamously known for its lo-fi production, and when it’s taken to high production levels, it’s usually seen as pretentious. This album kind of lays in the middle for me, which makes me think that the aesthetic direction was not thought of for this. A lot of the instrumental choices are ambitious but a lot of the usual lo-fi black metal production also comes along with this, so I will say right here right now, I’m not the biggest fan of how this album was produced.
Arrangements
Also in black metal tradition, the songs range from usual long song length, to actual long song length as the lengths range from 4 to 14 minutes from the 6 tracks on this album. They do pretty well with the long tracks as both the opener and closer reach the double-digit on minutes and don’t waste any of that time. “Frost” opens with an electronic post-rock-like crescendo that leads into a progressive black metal track and the title track has a 4-minute progressive electronic intro that leads into something extravagantly epic. With that being said, Krallice knows how to play with their arrangements.
Genre-Bending
Maybe except for “Heathen Swill”, this is that pure Post-Atmospheric Black Metal in and out, and even that song could be considered that too. Alongside that, progressive metal has a heavy devotion but so does electronic ambient music. The intro and outro of this album start with these spacey electronic intros and the outro even ends with one too. It might not be the most versatile black metal album out there, but it surely spread itself as a good black metal album should.
Influences
I can go ahead and talk about the massive Burzum influence this album has, but let me zoom in on the space ambient sections of this album. It kind of reminds me of the soundtracks of Slasher movies. Think the Halloween and Nightmare On Elm Street soundtracks, but done with additional black metal music. That’s one thing I certainly do find interesting about this album and I am certainly here for it.
Cons
Well, except for the spacy parts of this album, I do think it doesn’t shy away from most black metal stereotypes, but for someone who likes this kind of black metal, I do have enjoyment for this album. I’ll still say the production aspect might be another gripe I have with this album, so what I will say is that It’s good but definitely not worth the 7 bucks.
Verdict
Well, I’m glad I was able to listen to this record because there were some cool parts about it, but what I consider it amazing? No. It’s a solid black metal album with some cool hints of darkness and dynamic and sometimes that’s what makes a black metal record enjoyable.
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