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Krallice: Diotima
29/06/11 || Khlysty
If you want to fully enjoy “Diotima”, you’re going to need the following things:
a) Time
b) Patience
c) Attention
d) A good set of headphones.
As I have already stated in previous reviews, Krallice is the real alien among the black metal brethren of USA or elsewhere. While a lot of bands continue to experiment with form, texture and technique, it is Krallice that have pushed the envelope of black metal beyond even the breaking point. Their two previous records were exercises on abstraction, having more to do –at least in spirit, if not in form- with composers like Glenn Branca, than with any corpse-painted angsty troll, of the kind that has become de rigeur ever since Zephyrus appeared on that cover of Darkthrone.
The fact that Krallice seem not to care about what’s “proper” or “tr00” in black metal doesn’t help them one bit. Neither does it help that their records are way too long, packed to the gills with ideas and exceptional musicianship (when the core band is composed by two of the most gifted contemporary guitarists, Mick Barr and Colin Marston, it is expected that the guitarwork would be nothing less than stellar. The fact that bassist Nick McMaster and drummer Lev Weinstein are no slouches either makes things even more interesting). “Krallice” and “Dimensional Bleedthrough” are not easy records to sit through. If you don’t pay attention, they can easily sound like information overload and an endurance race.
“Diotima”, if anything, seems even more daunting: with the exception of the unnamed intro two-minutes-long track, everything else is a damned sprawl, with songs lasting from seven to almost fourteen minutes. And each and every one of them is still a hyper-complex-structured beast, with more twists, turns, wraparounds and changes, that after a while it can easily become a chore even trying to follow what the hell’s going on. Thankfully, this time around, Barr and Marston decided to subtract a bit of the alien-ness that stamped their previous works and add a bit of clearly-defined melody and consonance. Which, y’know, is a good thing, because, with so much happening all the time, these juttings in the vortex of Krallice’s basic sound make the slaughters elsewhere more endurable.
The newest thing –besides these forays into melodicism- that characterizes “Diotima” is McMaster’s taking over vocals: his almost-death metal bellows are commanding and work as perfect counterpoint to Barr’s (seldom featured) tortured screams. Otherwise, even when using the trad black metal standards (tremolo-picking, blasting), Krallice continue to sound as far out as it gets. I think that I can hear, sprinkled throughout the whole of the record, influences by Robert Fripp (especially during the stroboscopic guitar that’s used in “Litany Of Regrets”) or by ELP’s more strung-out moments, but everything seems to be skewed by Krallice’s monumental and totally outta-this-world perception towards music.
This becomes even more obvious during the nine-and-a-half-minutes-long closer of the record, the majestically bizarro “Dust And Light”, where the two guitars battle through a well of reverb, creating a disassociated feeling, while Barr howls gratingly for an undefined time, before the track turns into a black metal epic of melody and swirling drums. The final explosion of sound is nothing less than cathartic and a fitting end to such ambitious material. As far as the production is concerned, things are just as before, with proper saturation and buzz and enough clarity, mid-range and some bottom-end. Anyway, to cap things off, “Diotima” is another masterpiece of forward-thinking music by a super-talented band. It’s a difficult record if one looks for instant gratification, but if you have the things mentioned at the beginning of this review, you can’t miss its majesty and towering quality. Essential.
- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: Profound Lore
- Website: Krallice MySpace
- Band
- Mick Barr: vocals, guitar
- Colin Marston: guitar
- Nick McMaster: vocals, bass
- Lev Weinstein: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. –
- 02. Inhume
- 03. The Clearing
- 04. Diotima
- 05. Litany of Regrets
- 06. Telluric Rings
- 07. Dust and Light
