Eternal Cosmic Slaughter

Roughly translated, Urkraft means "primitive force" or speaking figuratively, it means "immense power." With Eternal Cosmic Slaughter, I think Urkraft have picked a suitable name for themselves. While I am sure that there are plenty of people who would refuse to call any melodic death metal immensely powerful, among other contenders of the genre, it most certainly is.

This isn't an upbeat or happy sounding album at all. It's undeviatingly heavy, and a lot darker than most other melodic death. While there are some keyboards implemented into Urkraft's sound, it is merely to enhance the darker aspect of their overall attack, so the keyboards don't ever make things wuss out. Apparently this band has been around for a while, releasing a few demos throught the years, and thus becoming very tight as a band, and they likely had plenty of time to refine their style. Some of the tracks contained on this cd actually originate from the previous 2003 demo, presumably reworked a bit to suit their technical proficiency.

So yes, the band knows how to play. So how do their songwriting skills hold up? I will quickly summarize that if you enjoy melodic death metal, perhaps even death metal, you will definitely enjoy this. The songs are memorable, headbangable, and full of great riffs. What more could someone ask for?

The vocalist mainly uses a mid pitched growly yet screamy technique, very reminiscent of Tomas Lindberg from At the Gates, Peter Tägtgren from Hypocrisy, or dare I say, something not too far from the vocals of The Haunted voalist Marco Aro. These comparisons don't do any justice however, as the core of the vocals are far from cloning other's styles. Urkraft also use some lower, almost gutteral death metal vocals here and there, which confirm that the vocalist does indeed have a lot of talent, and immense power.

The guitars will overwhelm you with constant riffiage. Stemming from an aggressive Swedish thrash/death style of riffing, Urkraft also include some depressive moments and of course, showcase a superb melodic side. The guitars rarely let up, and if they do, it's only for the songs sake, where some keyboards might be implemented. That is however, not to say that your neck will have much time to recover from headbanging. The songs shift effortlessly into their next segments, and all the insturments seem to help the build-up of sheer heaviness. Immense power indeed, this cd is not for the weak necked. The drums are certainly strong, and certainly interesting. Sounding more like death metal drumming at times, there are a lot of parts with constant double bass drums going, yet there are enough fills, and rhythm changes that it is enjoyable to listen to, especially since the guitars work along with the drums oh so well. The production, along with every instruments sound, is impeccable, damn near flawless. Not super clean and crisp, but far from raw and dirty, the sound attained is certainly along a professional level, giving more to the music than a flashy clean production would. I seem to be rambling, so I shall digress...

Instead of making this review any longer than it is, trying to explain why this album is such a gem in the genre of melodic death, I shall just end it by recommending you give this album a shot. It's a great listen, and you should buy it.