Conquering Death

Norway is the number one source of black metal, producing many wonderful black metal acts over the years. One of the latest outputs from its cold landscape is Krake, a symphonic act that have released their debut album Conquering Death and what a release it is.

Opening with a great instrumental A Murder of Crows it sets the tone perfectly for what you will experience; cold, thought provoking and beautifully composed, it is a taster of the symphonic delights installed for you.

The best thing about this album is the composing of the songs, the way they piece together, all the different elements, from the band to the orchestration it all comes together to form a wonderful symphonic soundscape that you can't help but get drawn into till you are merely riding a wave of sound, and find yourself sad when it ends. All the music is written by Dreugh, the guitarist and keyboardist for the band, and he has done a wonderful job. The music draws comparisons with fellow symphonic black metallers Dimmu Borgir, but Krake have managed to avoid the trap that Dimmu did and havent become the orchestra, to the point where their latest album could be considered Orchestra feat.Dimmu Borgir.In comparison, Krake utilise the orchestration to the fullest effect, using it to boost the power of the band and make it much more epic.

Vocal duties on this record come from Beist, who also writes the lyrics, which are another strong feature of the band. The lyrics are intricate and poetically composed, dealing mainly with themes such as loneliness, death and nature, a contrast from many other black metal bands which mainly concern themselves with satan and anti-christianity. They add an extra level of depth to the band, that the lyrics are on par with the intricate nature of the music itself. It is in the vocal department though that the main flaw is found, whilst the hoarse growl of Beist means that the lyrics are discernible which, given the nature of the lyrics is a huge bonus, is good, the voice lacks great range, mainly sticking to a monotonous mid-level growl, whilst it does suit some of the songs, it does get boring after a while, draining some of the magic out of the listen.

This album is a true masterpiece of symphonic black metal, each track is different, from the pounding beats of Ed to the fast blast beats of And A Colder Breed this album has everything you could ever hope to find in black metal. For any fans of the genre, this is a must have, Krake here have composed a true slab of true black metal.

Originally posted: http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/57055/Krake-Conquering-Death/

Norway is the best black metal factory of all time, because the quality of the music that any band created there is always beyond your imagination, and today Norway is presenting to us the debut album "Conquering Death" for talented black metal band KraKe. As Norway was always known as a pure black metal factory, Krake doesn't belong to that black metal side, because Krake is full of symphonic and melodic influences, so prepare yourself for another Norwegian black metal blast.

Most of the black metal bands on earth nowadays have a lot of influences from the Norwegian masters Emperor and Satyricon, and here is Krake is following the same path of these bands, and I can add Dimmu Borgir also as one of the bands that influenced the music of Krake. Though its hard to compare a Symphonic black metal band with another symphonic black metal band, but I can clearly notice that the band Krake is so much similar to the American symphonic black metal band Eyes of Noctum, especially the perfect production and the crystal sound of the guitars.

As the acoustic intro of the album (A Murder of Crows) reminds me of the legendary band Bathory, it gives the listeners a large void of expectations about this album before the starting of the track "And a Colder Breed", the track begins with a strong drumming and vital keyboards, the whole atmosphere gets more exciting as the vocals and the progression of the guitars flow around the structure of the songwriting. The strength of the tracks "The Great Leviathan" and "Beneath Black Waters" fills this album with immunity and dynamic sound, especially when the crispiness of the vocals melts into the dusky sound of the atmospheric keyboards, these tracks remind me of Dimmu Borgir in a very strong way, especially when the melodies of the piano capture the whole sound before the rough guitars enter again to recapture the atmosphere. Since the release of the demo album I've followed the news of Krake because I was sure somehow that they will give the black metal scene an excellent and a memorable album that will leave a big trace on the symphonic black metal history.

At the end, I recommend this track for the fans of Emperor and Dimmu Borgir, and for all the fans of Anorexia Nervosa and the early Limbonic Art, because this record will extinguish the thirst of these fans with the rough sound of the guitars and the perfect production and the mixing. The rapid progression of the guitars that flows on the sound of the atmospheric keyboards is the main theme for the sound of this record, so prepare yourself for this symphonic and volcanic record and get your copy now.

Originally written by:
www.jorzine.com

We all, one day, bought something because of an attractive packaging or a catchy advertising, finally realizing that the product thus obtained was quite banal. It’s what I felt while listening Conquering Death, first album of the Norwegian band Kråke (which means “crow” in Nynorsk). A strong promotional effort surrounds this record, the label being set loose on dithyrambs in its press releases. The coating itself is also very attractive, with a nice booklet and aremarkable attention to details in everything that surrounds the group’s image. But I’m only interested in content. And therein lies the rub.

The Kopervik quintet (on the island of Karmøy in the Rogaland) performs symphonic black metal approaching much of the foremost bands rampant in this declining subgenre. Dimmu Borgir’s influence on Kråke’s music is extremely transparent to anyone that even vaguely heard albums like Enthrone Darkness Triumphant or Spiritual Black Dimensions, both released in late 1990s. Moods, grandiose and epic, are keyboard generated while the other instruments add the necessary “metal” dimension with – sometimes – more aggressive passages. Production is solid; musicians are in perfect control, but songwriting is utterly bland. And A Colder Breed, second song after a short introduction, was declined in every way imaginable by countless Shagrath followers. It was innovative fifteen years ago, but now we are in 2012. Even after numerous listenings, I still can not identify something that could distinguish this album from hundreds of others that constitute the neverending stream of symphonic black metal. I’m probably jaded or too harsh, but listening to this record gives me the same satisfaction as to observe a number painting. It can be pretty, it is none the less a copy.

I am surprised that Indie Recordings, a great Norwegian label, promotes such a band, which differs in nothing from its many colleagues. Kråke members must imperatively work harder to improve their writing in order to create anything but obsolete and outdated recipes, unless they want to end up like Dimmu Borgir, a tasteless group who sacrificed originality for an ephemeral popularity. 5/10

Originally written for Métal Obscur.