by Jorge Castro (@densidad20.25)
Krallice have been around since 2007, taking black metal and death metal as frameworks from which they have built, destroyed and rebuilt their sound, mixing the raw, primal energy of those genres, with a more cerebral approach to writing. Although it might be tempting to categorize them under the “technical” or “prog” sub-genres of metal, they’ve always eluded those labels mainly because their production style has never fallen felt overly mechanized or quantized like, say, a band like The Faceless, nor does their playing feel as stiff. Krallice’s music is angular, but it flows with, dare I say, ease. It’s soulful in its own twisted, blast-beat ridden way, and their latest release has plenty of emotion and spirit to spare.
Scour Order (out on Profound Lore) is another installment in a long body of work defined by virtuosic instrumentality, shrieks, and growls, but it stands on its own within their vast discography. It’s still a riff-labyrinth cemented on trembling ground, shaking and throbbing with tectonic force, but there’s a steadiness that gives the sense that, this time, the band wants the edifices they’re building to stand tall within the dystopian landscape being conjured by the dissonant guitars, the rogue bass lines and expansive drumming. Virtuosity abounds, but its purpose is to give these edifications an interesting architecture rather than showing overly complex patterns. While every instrument shines with blinding intensity, the drums do so with elegant dexterity that doesn’t aim to steal the spotlight, but rather to enhance its brightness so everything else can be seen – and felt.
Just look at the album cover art. A thousand great reviews could never get to what the striking image conveys, with its different patterns taking your eyes into every direction in hypnotic synchronicity along with the intricacies of what you’re listening to, regardless of how fast and abrasive it can get. It could even be argued that, whether directly or inadvertently, this image summarizes the band’s ethos, with the contour having a defined shape, but being made up of a complex, ever-moving internal essence.
The aforementioned reference to light, is not merely a pure analogy as Scour Order is not as dark and abrasive as previous albums with a similar feel, like 2022's Crystalline Exhaustion, but this does not mean that the band sacrificed their grittiness in favor of a more pristine approach. The guitars, while still dissonant, do not create anxious tension; instead, they harmonize and play off of each other, building sections that last long enough before moving into another riff. It’s more of a wall of sound, where one side counters the other, sometimes clashing, but not to bring the other side down.
Each transition comes in with brutal force, violently making its way, not through the rubble of what came before, rather through the open spaces, reinforcing the creation of something new. It’s not the usual odd-time signature, jagged angularity of their imitators or previous albums, it’s a straightforward approach and it results in epic moments like the closing half of “Grievous Corrector,” in which the change in mood comes in announced. The clean guitars have time to mark their presence before switching in unison with the drums to the closing section of the track.