Kraanium - Chronicles Of Perversion
Kraanium are back with their fourth full length album titled, 'Chronicles Of Perversion'. Norway's kings of slam, now with two members from the UK - have returned after 2012's 'Post-Mortal Coital Fixation' - an album hideously filled to the brim with dirty slam riffs and non-stop brutality. So how exactly are the band able to top this release? Well, here's how...
'Chronicles Of Perversion's' eerie intro on opener 'Rock Filled Orifice' is just as disturbing as you'd expect from one of death metal's biggest gore-crazy artists. It comes as no surprise that the album's production is just as brilliant as 'Post Mortal...' and that's one of the great things about modern slam bands. 'Human Skin Fuck Doll' jumps right into the brutality with Martin Funderud's unique guttural vocals, almost representing a bull frog at times. Drummer Mitch Rider's techniques are more advanced than the band's previous work, as demonstrated in this track - his blast-beating style almost overpowers every other instrument, making it possibly the most interesting element of their revitalising sound.
It's not until you give the album a couple listens when you hear just how advanced Kraanium are taking their new sound. Tracks like 'Hung By Your Entrails', and more so with 'Acid Cumbustion' - are more developed death metal tracks, the introduction riff of this song is as crazy as early Slipknot material, but more mature and thoughtful than their own older work. As if the band know of their new direction, and what advances they need to make to spice up their genre that little bit more. It's still brutal slamming death metal, but it's more elaborate, and refreshing in an attempt to succeed in the midst of similar bands catering for this genre.
The riffs are pretty catchy as the album unfolds, 'Fermented Utural Mastication' is proof of this, as the guitarists' distinctive character evolves, but I've only noticed it on this release, and none other. This again is backed up with the instrumental album title track 'Chronicles Of Perversion', with a clever build-up and solo before erupting into a disturbing sample which then leads into the next song. The band are no longer just the band here to play you the most brutal songs, but each member's personality has expanded with the band over the years, and that's something every death metal band will one day need to learn. One thing for me that I did miss in this album is a nice cover. In previous album's there have been some cover tracks such as Waking The Cadaver, and Abominable Putridity - these were always a delight to listen to, and I was expecting another great cover on this album, but still, this doesn't stop the album from exploding the listeners' ear drums in the most violent form possible, and that's all that matters.
'Chronicles...' picks up where 'Post Coital...' left us with, but has a few extra twists and stabs in the art of death metal's most unusual concepts. The band have adapted the genre into something a little more progressive, hence the slow-down ending on final track, 'Revisitate To Mutilate'. It's as if the band have grown up and are experimenting with new techniques that they haven't used on any previous release. Of course the brutal samples are still in use, and they wouldn't be slam's finest without these creepy segments about hookers cut into a billion pieces which go hand-in-hand with the album's over-the-top, and slightly disturbing artwork, something brutal death metal has always been associated with, as if it were a sin to release an album without the nudity, gore, and grotesqueness.
There's a reason why Kraanium are so high up on the food-chain in the charts of underground death metal, and this album is proof of the band's ability to conquer and destroy. Having seen Kraanium live this year in the UK - I've witnessed their destructive live presence of a room filled with mad people bonking each other with inflatable sharks and hammers. Member changes haven't stopped the band, even having new members from across seas - the band are still at their best, and probably the biggest band in slam at the moment, which is most definitely deserved after this tasty slice of death metal pie, leaving you hungry for more.
'Chronicles Of Perversion's' eerie intro on opener 'Rock Filled Orifice' is just as disturbing as you'd expect from one of death metal's biggest gore-crazy artists. It comes as no surprise that the album's production is just as brilliant as 'Post Mortal...' and that's one of the great things about modern slam bands. 'Human Skin Fuck Doll' jumps right into the brutality with Martin Funderud's unique guttural vocals, almost representing a bull frog at times. Drummer Mitch Rider's techniques are more advanced than the band's previous work, as demonstrated in this track - his blast-beating style almost overpowers every other instrument, making it possibly the most interesting element of their revitalising sound.
It's not until you give the album a couple listens when you hear just how advanced Kraanium are taking their new sound. Tracks like 'Hung By Your Entrails', and more so with 'Acid Cumbustion' - are more developed death metal tracks, the introduction riff of this song is as crazy as early Slipknot material, but more mature and thoughtful than their own older work. As if the band know of their new direction, and what advances they need to make to spice up their genre that little bit more. It's still brutal slamming death metal, but it's more elaborate, and refreshing in an attempt to succeed in the midst of similar bands catering for this genre.
The riffs are pretty catchy as the album unfolds, 'Fermented Utural Mastication' is proof of this, as the guitarists' distinctive character evolves, but I've only noticed it on this release, and none other. This again is backed up with the instrumental album title track 'Chronicles Of Perversion', with a clever build-up and solo before erupting into a disturbing sample which then leads into the next song. The band are no longer just the band here to play you the most brutal songs, but each member's personality has expanded with the band over the years, and that's something every death metal band will one day need to learn. One thing for me that I did miss in this album is a nice cover. In previous album's there have been some cover tracks such as Waking The Cadaver, and Abominable Putridity - these were always a delight to listen to, and I was expecting another great cover on this album, but still, this doesn't stop the album from exploding the listeners' ear drums in the most violent form possible, and that's all that matters.
'Chronicles...' picks up where 'Post Coital...' left us with, but has a few extra twists and stabs in the art of death metal's most unusual concepts. The band have adapted the genre into something a little more progressive, hence the slow-down ending on final track, 'Revisitate To Mutilate'. It's as if the band have grown up and are experimenting with new techniques that they haven't used on any previous release. Of course the brutal samples are still in use, and they wouldn't be slam's finest without these creepy segments about hookers cut into a billion pieces which go hand-in-hand with the album's over-the-top, and slightly disturbing artwork, something brutal death metal has always been associated with, as if it were a sin to release an album without the nudity, gore, and grotesqueness.
There's a reason why Kraanium are so high up on the food-chain in the charts of underground death metal, and this album is proof of the band's ability to conquer and destroy. Having seen Kraanium live this year in the UK - I've witnessed their destructive live presence of a room filled with mad people bonking each other with inflatable sharks and hammers. Member changes haven't stopped the band, even having new members from across seas - the band are still at their best, and probably the biggest band in slam at the moment, which is most definitely deserved after this tasty slice of death metal pie, leaving you hungry for more.
- Rock Filled Orifice
- Human Skin Fuck Doll
- Hung By Your Entrails
- Destined For Surgical Defilement
- Evisceration Of Pre-Teen Cadavers
- Chronicles Of Perversion
- Acid Cumbustion
- Rusty Knife Defloration
- Fermented Uteral Mastication
- Sodomize Her Headless Corpse
- Revisitate To Mutilate
Label: http://www.comatosemusic.com
Reviewer: twansibon
Jul 28, 2015
Jul 28, 2015
Next review:
Tellurion – Tellurion
Share this:
