Kratornas
Over the Fourth Part of the Earth
Self Financed 2007
You virtually
never hear of a black metal band coming out of the Philippines so it is with
great interest that I approached the new album from Kratornas. And I was
treated to a merciless dose of brutal grinding black metal. They sort of
remind me of Marduk or Impaled Nazarene at their fastest with some thrashier
Slayer thrown in and some straight up death metal in the mix as well.
Rotting Reflections, is a machine gun of blasting drums and rapid fire riffing
along with a triumphant melody buried in its infernal depths as well. My
favorite song Dead Messiah has a main riff that is reminiscent of Venom of
Motorhead in its primitive charm and rock and roll sensibilities. Album
closer Wormwood blends together tough Morbid Angel and Krisiun styled death
metal rhythms. Though the album has some great highlights it also has some
faceless songs that sort of get lost in between the better ones. One major
problem I have with Kratornas' style is their over-use of the high-pitched,
slayer-esque guitar solos which make an appearance almost any time the blast
beat is introduced. If they could tone down on the amount of times they
use this the songs would flow a lot better for me. The guitar tone is sort
of a muddy buzzsaw sound which suits this style quite well. In contrast
though when they belt out guitar solos they sound fairly shrill. Kratornas
have recorded a solid and interesting album. They do however get bonus
points because they have had to struggle to find both an identity and an
audience in a land that is virtually devoid of both a scene and any sort of preestablished credibility (ala Norway). So if you are looking for a band
that has an authentic air of obscurity surrounding it then check out Kratornas.