Written by Zax
- Krvvla – X
- Black Metal from Belarus
- Released on February 4th, 2022 via Brucia Records
It’s hard to find stuff that pushes the boundaries these days. Albums that bewilder me with pure unadulterated chaos are few and far between, but just a few minutes into this new Krvvla record, I knew I had stepped into something relentlessly unholy.
https://bruciarecords.bandcamp.com/album/x
Just when you think this album has twisted its way into the deepest depths of depravity, it takes you down a new path of pure chaotic despair. This is post-black metal at its most dissonant and frantic, definitely drawing cues from mathcore here and there.
The album kicks off with an unsettling ambient cut that serves not as the calm before the storm, but as a warning of what’s to come. Immediately afterward we’re dropped into something truly nightmarish. The instruments are played with such writhing intensity, the riffs are snarled and ugly, and the percussion is almost lethally destructive. The guitar tone is dismally bleak. The compositions are especially striking, the amount of odd twists and sporadic turns keep the record exciting and unpredictable.
Listening to extreme metal as long as I have, nothing really surprises me anymore vocally, but man this vocalist is absolutely fucking nuts, like in the upper echelon of extreme vocalists, dudes gutturals are dripping with pure fury and malice, and his higher register screams are gnarly too.
This is yet another fantastic black metal album to come out this year with many more on the way. These guys have something special on their hands, and I hope you’ll join me in not letting this absolute monster of an album fly under the radar.