Krallice-Ygg Huur (2015)

Krallice-Ygg Huur (2015)

“To revolt is a natural tendency of life. Even a worm turns against the foot that crushes it. In general, the vitality and relative dignity of an animal can be measured by the intensity of its instinct to revolt.”

Mikhail Bakunin

By: Erreh Svaia

Idols main riff is a slow one, is certainly closer in spirit to the stuff done by post rock bands more than to Emperor or Immortal, although Krallice stuff has undeniable connections to black metal, it could be something like post black metal, if such thing existed, the truth is that Krallice plays really heavy and nervously intense music, it plays heavy on emotions as it creates a great deal of tension and you can feel the almost claustrophobic on the first song.

I would love to adhere to those who denounce Krallice as not being black metal enough, I bet Krallice members would be happy either, as simply putting Krallice under the black metal umbrella wouldn't do justice to what these guys are capable of playing , Wastes of Ocean possess that maniac energy, but severely transformed into a cerebral whirlwind of music, the band embraces BM cascade of riffs, but whereas BM riffing is kind of undefined, Krallice brings some Death Metal definition and technique and successfully mixes it with their own weird impulses and severely disjointed riffs and pulverizing drums, as it seems that their past in noise and math rock bands gives them enough ground to get really crazy in tunes like Over Spirit, which features amazing shifts of tempos to leave the listener numbed.

It’s a little adventurous to call Krallice a prog band, but you can't deny their affinity towards complex arrangements, their guitar skills obviously go beyond those of standard BM guitarist, taking the tremolo riffing and sending it somewhere else thanks to the music interaction with the powerful and dynamic rhythm section as shown in the start stop attack of Tyranny of Thought.

Beyond all, Krallice is a great guitar band, you can't deny that, just check the impressive string arrangements on Bitter Meditations ranging on the brutal techno attack of bands like Voivod, creating a twin guitar attack that deserves to be taken really serious above BM, death metal or extreme music in general, as Krallice are not a bit shy when it comes to creating amazing non-conventional heavy music full of desire to escape any easy categorization.

Engram, the album's latest song is another brave example of non-conventional arrangements put in full display, showing a band hell bent on breaking all known boundaries, playing with barbarian music and taking it to a level of genius, Krallice and this incredible Ygg Huur are without a doubt among the best heavy music done this year.