AOTY #4: Krallice - Years Past Matter

In 2011, Krallice took home top honours of my AOTY list with their album Diotima. Krallice came right back with their self-released Years Past Matter. The new release is no less deserving of the highest honour I can bestow upon an album but the top 3 are also very very deserving. I listened to YPM a couple weeks ago in bed. As captivating as it is in any circumstance, enjoying the album in a completely distraction-free environment is a totally different experience. With undivided attention and relinquished of other stimuli, the myriad textures, shades and intricacies dissolve within each other in perfect solution. A homogeneous mixture of the brilliant musician ship found in the band. Krallice is modern black metal at its very finest.

(Self Released)

Vinyl on Gilead Media

The Kingdom of Noise Album of the Year for 2011: KRALLICE - DIOTIMA

No album of 2011 captured me the way Diotima (Profound Lore) did. Krallice have crafted a masterpiece that at times has left me literally speechless. Rendered mute and dumbfounded by the sheer brilliance of their creation. The immensity of talent that forms Krallice is mind-blowing. And I feel ashamed that I haven't realized that until this year. I can almost guarantee that I heard Dimensional Bleedthrough but for whatever reason it didn't click with me. As I've said before, Black Metal in general is a taste I have only acquired in the past couple years. The less black there is in my hair, the more black there is in my heart. Granted, Diotima is considered avant-garde as far as Black Metal goes but it hasn't transcended the genre altogether. One of the aspects of Black Metal that I particularly enjoy, and that Krallice perform with considerable success, is the sense of motion. Specifically a sense of flight. For the entire length of the album, my consciousness soars through time. Landscapes and colours shift and fade in my mind's eye. Darkness and light explode across my being or creep through my veins. My mind, body and spirit melt into one entity, content in nothing other than the absorption of the sound waves.

I may sound like I am being overly dramatic but this album affected me on a level much deeper than simply auditory pleasure. A sensory satisfaction that mundane can be satiated a thousand times over before you happen across something that is so good it hurts. That's what good art does. It makes you feel. You may feel joy. You may feel anxiety or fear. Anger, Sadness. Pride. Elation or disappointment. It could make you feel powerful, or weak. Or it may make you feel all of these things. The point is that it makes you feel something. That's what Diotima does for me. It makes me feel all those things. Often in the same song. As the soundscape unfolds, I envision it as the soundtrack to a world. It's stories and drama unravelling in sonic elegance. A journey beyond the speakers. An epic worthy of reverence for its ability to move your soul through the ether to a place outside of the everyday. And this is how I feel before I've even read the lyrics. The artfulness of the music is carried through into the words. The screams and growls and howls serve as more than just another instrument. They act as a vehicle for the poetic beauty of the written words. The juxtaposition of the cerebral lyrics and "animalistic" nature of the vocals is somewhat striking but not unexpected. Nothing about Diotima would suggest anything otherwise. One wouldn't expect such care to be taken musically to create such grandeur and nuance only to throw trivial lyrics over it. The lyrics get the listener thinking and the music sets the tone and fleshes out the details which together creates a magnificent singular piece of immensely satisfying art. For me, all this has enough impact to destroy a world. Perhaps similar to the impact that is theorized to have destroyed Tiamat and created our Solar System's asteroid belt. One of those asteroids is coincidentally named 423 Diotima. Named for the historical Greek figure, Diotima's discourses with Socrates are said to be the origins of the concept of Platonic love. While I assure you I have no intentions of proposing marriage to any members of the band, or my double vinyl copy of the album for that matter, my love for Diotima does push the very limits of the definition of Platonic.*

The dramatis personae performing this masterwork consists of vocalist/guitarist Mick Barr (Orthrelm, Ocrilim), guitarist Colin Marston (Behold...Arctopus, Dysrhythmia, Gorguts), bassist/vocalist Nick McMaster and drummer Lev Weinstein. This foursome possesses a superb wealth of talent. Each an absolute master of their craft. Thankfully, it appears that ego does not come part and parcel with all that ability. In the liner notes, writing credits are presented as "MUSIC INITIATED BY..." :LYRICS BY...". I love that term "initiated by". This would lead me to believe (and I have read elsewhere) that this is a total band effort. Each member contributing to and building on an idea, a concept, a framework, initiated by one member. In fact, every member's name appears in the music and/or lyrics. As much as I deride "artists" who don't write their own "songs", I applaud even more so for bands that collaborate as a team. On this their third album, Krallice are now champions.

www.twitter.com/MetalMatt_KofN

*According to the Wikipedia, entry for Diotima, "with genuine Platonic love, the beautiful or lovely other person inspires the mind and the soul and directs one's attention to spiritual things." That sounds about right. "Oh my GOD, this is awesome!"

CD available from Profound Lore here.
2LP vinyl available from Gilead Media here.

Inspired by Girls Who Don't Really Like Metal

Inspired by this article on Metal Sucks, I've preempted by Napalm Death live review to bring you a few words about girls and metal. At least from my perspective and opinion.
First, my wife doesn't like metal. She doesn't pretend to like metal. The only metal she likes is a couple Rob Zombie tunes and that's not even metal. Thankfully, she doesn't like Country Music either. Otherwise, I wouldn't have married her. So, I got to thinking, if I wasn't married what would I think of "metal chicks"?
a) Most of the young women I see at metal shows are too young for me anyway. I'm an old man now. More grey hair than black but not really because of age. With a hat on, I still get ID'ed sometimes. Anyway,...

Would I want to have a girlfriend/wife that loved metal as much as I do? I don't really know. On one hand, it would be really great to listen to Black Metal at breakfast, and Death Metal at dinner, Sludge at supper etc. I would have someone to watch my Immolation DVD with, a reason to get my old Sepultura VHS tapes out of the garage, and not have to listen to the crap on the radio all the time. But on the other hand, she would want to go to all the metal shows with me, right? Do I want that? Will she DD? Metal shows are kind of my escape. A night out by myself to let loose. I don't even have to drink or get high. I just rage. I end up sore for days but I have a good time. I don't go out and shoot pool or hang out a sports bar with my friends. I just go to metal shows. So, if my wife were to come to all those shows too because she was a "metal chick" what would I do? Not hang out at a sports bar alone, that's for sure.
If my wife liked all the same stuff I do, (metal, sports, sci-fi/fantasy, logging etc) would I find that sexy? Or would it feel like just having a female best friend that you sleep with? Ya sure, I get frustrated sometimes that I can't talk to her (or anyone really, I'm kind of isolated in terms of like minded friends) about the amazing new Krallice album, or how much I hate the Yankees, or Arthur C. Clarke's Rama series, or how I need a new chainsaw chain etc. but say she didn't LIKE the new Krallice album, then what would I do? I think this way, where I have my own shit, and she has hers, is better in the long run. Sure, I have to listen to Selena Gomez (kids) and Adele (wife) and I can't watch every Chicago Blackhawks game on tv but I love my wife just the way she is.
Besides, I don't know about other guys, metal nerds or not, but I am not automatically attracted to a woman just because she is wearing a Skeletonwitch t-shirt or has rad tattoos. It helps, but if she's not attractive, she's not attractive. Plain and simple. A musical preference isn't going to change that. Also, for me anyway, too much makeup is a turn off. And I see lots of makeup on the faces of the bodies wearing some of those shirts.
I guess what I am trying to say is, it would be cool if my wife liked metal. Just not as much as me.

As far as the article goes. I really hope it's tongue-in-cheek. Otherwise, it's bullshit. I believe women can love metal just as much as guys. I "know" lots of them. I see lots of them. Killing themselves in the pit with the rest of us. Girls don't voluntarily get beat up so guys notice them. That doesn't make sense. "Hey, I have a black eye and a bloody nose. Wanna make out?" No, thanks.
Granted, there ARE people, women and men alike that think it's cool to wearing Maiden shirts and the like without knowing anything about the band. To whom I would refer to this video.

Did I make any sense or did I just waste some of my precious time? Hey, whatever happened to Most Precious Blood?

The cuts keep on comin

Insomnium - Across the Dark: a little TOO melodic.
Katatonia - Night is the New Day: sissy metal.
Kittie - In the Black: would be better if Morgan wasn't the singer.
Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough: As far as black metal goes, it's probably good. But I didn't really dig it.

KsE is sitting on the fence. I don't want to like it, but I can't help but sing along.