Krek

The gruffness of the goat comes through on this latest bleak, experimental record that steps away from the conventional genre restrictions generally associated with black metal and forms a slower, more insidious musical hatred. Rough growling vocalizations of main man Sverre Stokland are distant and foreboding, the gravel throated rasps he emits providing an evil grittiness to the sound of the group on the whole. Khold’s songs are very to the point, representative of a black nature and resonating with a gloomy, mechanical brilliance.

As the title track, “Krek” winds a serpentine flurry of harsh tones, one is reminded of the propensity for aural dismay that this group exhibited on albums “Morke Gravers Kammer” and "Phantom”, as the music becomes a mass of epic natured, swirling darkness that pulls your attention toward it like a black hole. Evolution continues to appear within the ensemble’s songcrafting. Murky, almost tribal rhythms permeate “Blod Og Blek”, as the group deliver a wall of stutter-stopping blackened doom that will seat deeply into your brain like a tumor.

Mid-tempo mech feeds the growling “Byrde”, as Gard sneers menacingly and Sarke lashes away at a towering pulse. Emotions of gloom reside deeply within “Lysets Flukt” with a speeding black metal accompaniment by guitarist Rinn that emphasizes the frostbitten Norwegian lyrics of Hildr in typical heartless fashion.

Known for imparting a machine-like sonic sensation, Khold further explores the possibilities of the aural manifestation of the most unforgiving corners of the abyss, doing so in a manner that is more than unique. Dismal tones and scratchy groans highlight towering rhythmic arrangements throughout the album and those fans who find slower, yet no less wicked anthems will gravitate toward this record’s shifting between furious lo-fi black metal and more often slower, yet no less ominous tempos. Khold echoes as harshly as ever here and at this point they have developed into truly skilled writers as well. To dispute this fact is to deny the darkness, where it is always bitterly Khold.