Krallice - Years Past Matter

If there’s anything about Krallice that fits squarely with black metal tradition, it’s the tendency of their music to be overshadowed by the lore surrounding them. Maybe Colin Marston never stabbed anybody, but you’d be forgiven for thinking as much in light of the controversy surrounding the band’s black and tech metal hybrid.

In truth, the debate about the band is neither surprising nor unwarranted. They garnered rapid and emphatic praise from journalists who were rightfully excited about Krallice’s musical concept and instrumental role in an unfolding paradigm. But some could argue that this praise slightly outpaced the band’s compositional ability; a perspective highly dependent on the listener’s context in black metal, tech metal, even death metal. And black metal purists tended to be less impressed by the supposed innovations that Krallice represented. In much the same way that Napalm Death didn’t really invent grind, the purists are usually right. But they’re never vindicated, so it sucks to be one.

Great music never lives in the middle of the road, and wisely Krallice has responded to any deficiencies in their songs by dispensing with conventional attempts to write them. On Years Past Matter you will find no song titles and no lyrics – this is Krallice at their most organic, meandering, and abstract. Previous attempts at verse-chorus formats and vocal hooks on Diotima served only to drive home how ill-at-ease the band was with the format, and the segmented, riff based structures of their previous work often stifled the otherwise brilliant musical interplay by compartmentalizing it into discrete chunks.

It may seem almost paradoxical that Krallice has achieved their most memorable and succinct set of songs by making their music more free flowing and extended. But metal has never been a genre that’s harmed by 10-20 minute epics – it’s the introduction of too many ideas that makes a song seem longwinded. On Years Past Matter, every transition is so seamless that for the first time in their career, Krallice’s songs seem shorter than they are.

Possibly a byproduct of the organic approach to composition, Years Past Matter is also Krallice at their most dynamic. There’s the infectious grooves of track 3, the gentle acoustic theme of 4 devolving into a gorgeous alien soundscape straight out of Ocrilim, the droning noise of 5 and the technical explosion of the progressive closing track. These sonic landmarks do wonders for the flow of the album, and sustain the interspersed tremolo-picking flurries which have always been a trademark of the band. My first thought on hearing all this was that the band had largely dropped the pretense of being a black metal band. But after listening further, I have found that sections of the album strike me as the closest to black metal the band has ever sounded. Even though these sections still aren’t that intense and still aren’t that grim, the musical impact derives from the contrast.

Musically, the band sounds better than they ever have. Marston and Barr’s fretwork has never been in question, but here Weinstein and McMaster really come into their own. If there was one weakness to the band before, it was a slight identity crisis between the black metal and technical parts of their sound. No one is more integral to reconciling that divide than Weinstein, since an underperforming drummer can be the Achilles' heel of a technical metal band, but drone and black metal influences demand a more restrained performance. This time around, Weinstein knows exactly when to play a minimalist blast or double bass groove, and exactly when to ratchet up to a more hyperactive attack. As for McMaster, he continues to develop as a strong third voice in the arrangements, dexterously supplying everything from fuzzy rumbling lines, to dynamic technical runs, to subtle and surprising harmonizations.

A couple other nice touches to this album:

For one, the album layout and artwork is fantastic. It mirrors the music perfectly: reminiscent of the spirit of black metal in certain ways, but modern, abstract, and full of color.

Secondly, on the album there are no song titles at all, but online they are titled with a string of I’s of sufficient number that it’s impossible to tell which song is which unless they are all listed in order. At first I thought this was some obnoxious attempt to be kvlt, but now I’m interpreting it as a statement about listening to the album as a whole. If a song comes up on your music player, it’s effectively impossible to tell which track it is – only that it’s from Years Past Matter. Like the artwork, this titling convention mirrors the music: each song requires the context of the others.

Often the darlings of Pitchfork, often the scorn of Metal Archives, Krallice has responded to all the petty dogmatic outrage and the brainless trendy followers in the best possible way – by eliminating virtually all text from their album and letting the music speak. And speak it does.

Katatonia - Dead End Kings

My relationship with Dead End Kings has evolved almost exactly as I expected it to beforehand. In other words, it's deja vu from 2009 and Night is the New Day. On the first couple listens I thought it sounded good but not particularly remarkable. I was disappointed that the band had continued in such a similar vien as the last couple albums, but not surprised. By now I've probably listened to the album 15 times, and I am fully infatuated with it. 

Putting aside their early death metal work, Viva Emptiness was Katatonia at their most aggressive. The heavier parts of the album displayed jagged, splintered rhythms and claustrophobic walls of noise. The Great Cold Distance kept many of the polyrhythmic tendencies and metallic guitars of Viva Emptiness, but incorporated them into a disarmingly listenable framework.

Night is the New Day was in many ways a continuation of the same evolution. The songs became more expansive; even cinematic. Despite my sense that albums like Last Fair Deal Gone Down contained more raw emotional power, beneath the polished and concise songs lay a level of sophistication unmatched in the band's career. To cheapen it with categorization, it was the most exquisite pop for prog-metal fans. I eventually forgave the lack of overt musical progression because the album was just damn good.

As much as I love every song on Night is the New Day, it could get a little tiring halfway through the album. While Departer, Forsaker, Idle Blood, Inheritance and Nephilim were distinctive, the rest of the tracks had a tendency to blend together. Not to say they weren't memorable; but the emotional arc of the songs and the verse/chorus structure were similar.

In that respect, Dead End Kings holds up a lot better.  Looking through the lyrics to Night is the New Day, I realize just how rigidly the verse/pre-chorus/chorus structure is followed. That's probably why, when listening to opening track "The Parting", I was expecting it to either repeat itself or end. Instead the track moves into a beautiful bridge section which is a highlight of the song. A subtle progression to be sure, but a meaningful one for the flow of the album. A song like "Ambitions" goes farther - it still contains the verse/pre-chorus/chorus structure, but there are multiple additional sections, one of which is revisited in a couple different contexts. Despite the general added complexity of the songs, they still feel just as concise and economical, which is a testament to the writing.

The music is a bit more varied between tracks as well. The album has a few stylistic outliers like the jagged metal of "Buildings", the sprawling prog leanings of "Dead Letters" or the subdued "The Racing Heart". But the rest still have some musical trait to distinguish them - like the keyboard driven "Leech" or the energetic and dynamic "Lethean", which must be the only Katatonia track with a genuine guitar solo. In general, while the keyboards and guitars are present throughout, they are more likely to play dynamic lines and trade off, with one or the other acting as the lead voice. The swelling keyboard textures of Night is the New Day aren't gone, they're just used more sparingly.

The more I think about it, the integration of keyboards as a full instrument rather than a kind of added flavor is probably the biggest improvement the band has made. I doubt it's a coincidence that the keyboards are now credited to main songwriters Renkse and Nystrom, where they were performed by someone outside the band previously.

At first glance, Dead End Kings seemed to be another step in the same progression that lead to Night is the New Day. Aesthetically, it's even more accessible to the non-metal fan. It's rich with keyboard backdrops and subtle guitar or percussion embellishments. But on further examination it seems that the band is reaching back towards the winding song structures and dynamic spirit of Viva Emptiness while retaining the pristine control of texture and space that they've gained in the meantime.

Once again my initial disappointment with the band's refusal to leave their comfort zone melted away with repeated listens. Anders Nystrom alluded to their musical continuity in a recent interview, saying that Night is the New Day still feels like the "new" album and that everything since The Great Cold Distance still feels up to date.  It's important to remember that there's nothing inherently wrong with a band continuing to write in a similar style - it's only the fact that this typically indicates a lack of inspiration. Katatonia has clearly not exhausted their inspiration for this style of music.

Sitting on the floor drinking tea

Katatonia – Dance of December Souls

I was revisiting all my Katatonia albums leading up to the release of Dead End Kings and their concert in San Francisco. I’ve never managed to get into the band's early death metal material. The couple songs I’ve heard from Brave Murder Day sound good, but listening to Mikael Akerfeldt fronting a different band is kind of like watching Kiefer Sutherland in The Sentinel. I'm sure he still saves the world. As for Dance of December Souls, it’s just never grabbed me one way or the other. Seems about time to figure out whether it’s any good.

Last night I was walking around outside listening to it a little drunk and decided that it just wasn’t interesting and I should give up continually trying to get into it. But then today it seemed kind of promising. So the jury is still out for now. I’m a little jaded towards some of the melodies and acoustic noodling that’s scattered about. But all my old melodic death metal albums remain favorites year after year, so maybe it's my attitude that's the problem.

Today is the Day – Pain is a Warning

Although I’ve still never heard the first 3 Today is The Day albums (which are supposed to be some of their best), I’m a pretty massive fan of the ones I do have. Pain is a Warning was a huge departure from their previous albums, which were twisted and complex – both musically and structurally. Then Steve Austin decided to do a 180 and release a stripped down, nearly minimalist work which feels a lot like a rock and roll album, albeit one that’s been charred over an open flame.

I felt like I was being really creative with that description until I realized there is a big flame on the album cover…

As much as I love (and may even prefer) albums like Kiss the Pig or Temple of the Morning Star, economical writing and conceptual simplicity goes a long way towards making an album feel cohesive. This is the one Today is the Day album which always holds me until the end, even when I didn’t plan to listen to the whole thing. The aggressive parts of the album are broken up by more restrained songs where Steve Austin actually let’s loose some tortured crooning. Never saw that coming, but it really works. These songs (title track, Remember to Forget, This is You) are a few of my favorites. The other clear highlight is “Slave to Serenity”. I think there’s a total of two riffs, with one of them making up 80% of the song. But I literally can’t get enough. Epic.

Strapping Young Lad

I saw The Devin Townsend Project with Katatonia the other night, and I didn’t like it very much at all. A major feature of the performance was a backdrop video of Ziltoid, the omniscient alien who demands Earth’s greatest cup of coffee and attacks when it fails to meet his expectations. During the soundcheck he was singing songs about mangos and interviewing people.  Couple this with the rest of Devin Townsend’s crazy/weird/ironic shtick, and I just wasn’t taking it very seriously. It didn’t sound very impressive – but in retrospect I think this was partially the bits of foam stuck in my ears because to be fair, I wasn’t picking up the subtleties of Katatonia’s compositions either. I just happen to already know what those are.

I listened to some of Devin Townsend’s stuff yesterday and I actually thought it seemed pretty decent, so I was inspired to revisit Strapping Young Lad which I previously thought I had grown out of (after a very short affair with it  some 8 years ago). Well, it’s actually not bad at all! I ended up listening to most of the album. Funny that thinking the concert sucked is the thing that's getting me to listen to Devin Townsend again.

Incantation – Onward to Golgotha

Not much to say about this one – it’s one of the all time classics of death metal. It’s the music that I most associate with my year studying at Cambridge, along with Yes’s Tales from Topographic Oceans. Yes seems like a slightly more conventional association. But what can I say? Nothing spells Onward to Golgotha like walking by this all the time:

I’m kidding, relax. I’m not going to go all Varg next time I’m there. Wood stave churches are a lot easier to deal with anyway.

Enslaved – Vikingligr Veldi

I kind of like the progressive-black metal thing Enslaved does these days (I have Isa and Vertabrae). Haven’t listened to this very much, and it didn’t score itself any extra points today. Like Katatonia, Enslaved is yet another in the list of black metal and melodic death metal bands who went onto broader things, but whose early work is raved about on Metal Archives. I can’t tell if it’s just the elitism and tunnel vision of death and black metal purists, or if there really is some genius in these albums which I find relatively inaccessible or superficially uninteresting.

Dark Tranquillity – Haven

If there’s anything the keyboard work on Dead End Kings reminds me of, it’s late period Dark Tranquillity. I think Katatonia does it more tastefully – as proficient and enjoyable as albums like Fiction and We are the Void are, they’re always served with a touch too much cheese.

Haven was their first album to fully integrate keyboards, and it’s more midpaced than everything that came later. I’ve always liked it but never felt the magic. I have a feeling it may have more to offer – and now that I’m revisiting it I hear some subtleties I hadn’t previously noticed. It’s possible that I haven’t heard this since I started using decent headphones a few years ago.

Incantation – Primordial Domination

I know I was kind of dismissive about this album in a recent post, but I keep wanting to listen to it so obviously it can’t be that bad. I do think John McEntee's vocals were better on Decimate Christendom. A lot of people wish Craig Pillard was back so they probably like his deeper tone on this album, but I find them less expressive this way. Otherwise, I just wish the guitar tone wasn’t so clean and that the bass was more prominent. Diabolical Conquest was the album that made me love this band, and a big part of the reason was because of the prominent, popping bass tone which to my ears adds a lot of color to the sonic palette. I feel like I'm always walking this fine line between being descriptive and sounding like a douchebag. 

Anyway, I’m not a fan of the homogenous thick wall of bass and guitar that most bands use – sure, it’s “heavier” but it’s also less interesting. I’ve revisited a number of death metal albums that I love and eventually realized that the distinct sonic presence of the bass was unconsciously playing a huge role. Cryptopsy’s None So Vile comes to mind. I always thought the album sounded awesomely chaotic and it's not just the slightly sloppy drumming that does it.

Anyway, just to harp on the point a little more, in retrospect Diabolical Conquest might even be the single album most responsible for bringing my focus in death metal away from the riffs themselves and towards a more holistic view.

Incantation has a new album coming out this winter - Vanquish in Vengeance. I just came across this track they released last year as part of a split that I didn't know about. I actually think it sounds awesome so hopefully that's a good sign for their next one.

Mayhem – Live in Leipzig

This is the only Mayhem release to feature the vocals of the infamous Dead, and I won’t deny that I bought it for that reason. Apparently he would do things like bury his clothes and then dig them up to wear on stage, and carry around a plastic bag with a dead bird in it and smell it so he could sing with the “stench of death in his nostrils”.

Obviously I was hopeful that this would be the pinnacle of black metal vocals, but if I’m honest they seem kind of run of the mill.

I used to buy every live album by bands I liked as a completist, but I never listened to them much. I always looked at them as collections of tracks from other albums, but I try to approach them as standalone musical statements now. Live in Leipzig is a good one for that considering it’s a lineup that never recorded in the studio. It’s a pretty messy and lo-fi affair, but in a different way from how second wave black metal studio albums are lo-fi. The aesthetic is slowly growing on me.

Vader – Live in Japan

Live in Japan seems competent but I don’t see a real reason to listen to it over the studio albums. But even as I’m typing this I realize I’m not following my own dictum about how I should approach live albums. I don’t know that I’ve ever listened to this without comparing it to the studio recordings. To be fair, most death metal bands just go up there and parrot their albums. On the other hand, contrary to popular opinion I think successful death metal is just as reliant on atmosphere and aesthetics as black metal is. Basically I just need to listen to this a bunch of times before judging it. I’ve owned it for long enough, it’s about time. It's not as bad as Neurosis’ Live in Stockholm though…I don’t know if I’ve heard the complete album once. I used to be such a moron about buying CD’s.