On disc: KromleK

 
 Finis Terrae
 
- Lars Bjørn -
 
 


 
 Finis Terrae
 
- Mike Thompson -
 
 

Finis Terrae

(Trollzorn Records - 2011)



 
 

 

This album begins with a tribute to the Ibiza club scene. Well, maybe not in name but certainly in execution the keyboard intro Iron Age Prelude would not be out of place on a chill out dance album. Perhaps its time to get out the fake tan and go clubbing in my kutte? I almost vomited as I wrote that. Apologies. Lets begin again...

KromleK is a bombastic folk metal band from Germany whose sound on the previous albums were strongly influenced by Scandinavian contemporaries such as Ensiferum and Finntroll but with something about it that made you keep wanting to listen again. I'm not too familiar with the band's first effort, Kveldridhur, but the sophomore album Strange Rumours...Distant Tremors has been a regular fixture in my playlist since I bought it. In my opinion it was a largely unrecognized folk metal classic with great variation between the songs, powerful yet catchy hooks and great execution by the band members, not least vocalist Alphavarg whose phenomenal growl varied from the deep rumblings á la Johan Hegg to the hoarse shrieks of Petri Lindroos.

So then, you can imagine my bemusement when I at down to listen to this album to be met with something that was perhaps written by Lady Gaga... Bemusement that quickly turned to disgust. Thankfully, this didn't set the entire tone for the album but this techno keyboard crap kept rearing its ugly head at certain moments and ruining the enjoyment that could be derived from Finis Terrae. Check out the beginning of Manjushri aus mir or Metropolitan Roots for more fine examples of how to ruin an album.

Ok, so the entire album isn't that bad. Unfortunately this just doesn't strike me as a KromleK album. Throughout the entire duration (Gaga moments aside) I felt like I was listening to a new Equilibrium album. There is almost nothing of what made Strange Rumours...Distant Tremors so enjoyable. Its not like I mean a comparison to Equilibrium to be a bad thing but its not what I want from a KromleK album. There's nothing at all to match the brilliance of Herjan, Strandhagg Part 1 or the utterly amazing Grim Omens. The aforementioned Metropolitan Roots actually sounds like a song by Norwegian industrial black metal band The Kovenant in every possible way!

I also have to ask what is with the kids voice-over on Egophaneia? Its completely out of place. Someone pass me a sledgehammer because this track makes me want to crush skulls brutally. Still, at least the keyboardist, Hrisdólgr, managed to reign in his apparent love of shit on this track. The same cannot be said of the almost-sixteen minute long album closer and title track. By the time this song was halfway through I felt like my brain had liquidated and was dribbling from my ear. Its just ridiculous. The techno vibe doesn't fit, the metal parts of this song are just average and overall I'd say its just dull.

Songs like Creation's Crowning Glory and Moritvrvs Immortalis show hints of the old KromleK but its not enough. The musicianship is still good with some fine guitar work and meaty riffs and Alphavarg's voice still hits the spot but its just not an enjoyable listen. I wanted to love this album so much but it seems that KromleK have turned into a sub-par Equilibrium clone with bizarre clubland overtones and I feel no desire to sit through the 68 minute duration of this album again. Gutted.

 
 










Mike Thompson


  
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Finis Terrae

(Trollzorn Records - 2011)



 
 

 

With previous experience of 2 records the pagan / folk metal band KromleK now sends their new album out. It is one of the more bizarre records this spring, a mix of not only pagan and folk metal, but also true / power / dark metal finds their space on this CD. The vocal line is dark death growling, performed in German, Swedish and English language, the titles are also bizarre: Mantikor, Ad Rvbiconem, and in Iceland writing we get Angrliod. The musical content are not so impressive, it's messy like it comes from the iron bin, and only part of it has been polished off. But few good songs are also present: Nekropolis' Fall which have the raw voice about it, guitars and rhythm are very bastant but anyway there is a listenable melodic line included to prove that the talent are still intact.

Angrliod holds massive power with aggressive twist on the guitars, great power metal on this song. As to fulfil the mix of music we get synthesizers on the songs Manjusri aus mir and the song Metropolitan Roots and that outcome is very succeeded, it still gives tight and heavy display of what KromleK can do. The last of the 13 songs is the title track Finis Terrae and it is a 16 minutes bombardment of different sounds, good hard guitar work, but not enough substance. A headache are threatening to set in when you are done with such a song, and to hit the spike: the song ends with a 2-minute wind-howling. Yep, KromleK it is.

 
 










Lars Bjørn


  
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