Krisiun "Works of Carnage" CD
[Century Media]
For some odd reason there's a crappy intro of a bunch of windy sounds and junk that takes up a minute of the first track, so you have to fast forward through it rather than skip it, but after that it's smooth sailing on the ship of relentless Brazilian death metal. The band's sound is basically intact, as one has come to expect from Krisiun they don't change all that much from record to record, but I'm very pleased to say that there is enough about this record that is different to differentiate it from all of their past efforts. Right off the bat it becomes evident that the songs are generally a bit shorter and more focused, keeping the total running time of the record far more succinct than usual - and that's a huge help. Beyond that, they incorporate even more slower riffs than they did on "Ageless Venomous", so the constant speed and tremolo picking is well balanced with some thrash influences and midpaced rhythms (check out "Ethereal World"). They're still working more with putting some effort into the solos, too. Sure, there's still a shitload of sweep picking and a lot of chaotic runs that sort of sound like scales played at warp speed, but the sweet tapping solo in "Thorns of Heaven" is a great touch, and what about the whacked out pull-off harmony (Including bass!) that opens up the title track!? Awesome. "Sentinel of the Fallen Earth" is a fucking masterpiece, the riffs are darker and more powerful, the subtle melodies are intense, and it's a great example of the dissonance the band is now incorporating into their standard style... And yes, they even cover Venom's "In League With Satan", and believe me, to hear Krisiun playing what essentially amounts to a "slow" (by Krisiun's standards), punk influenced metal track is damn interesting! As for the production, I'm very enthusiastic about the fact that you can actually hear some distinct bass on occasion. Yeah, they still need to turn it up, but fuck it, it's there. The drums are still too rigid, unsurprisingly, but the overall sound is light years stronger than it was on the last record, without sacrificing clarity. The guitar tone is thicker and more balanced, the drums have some density and aren't mixed too far out front, the vocals are as they should be, and so on. The video for "Murderer" is included as a CD-Rom portion, and even though it's just performance footage shot in a sort of rundown building or something, it looks pretty professional. It reminds me a little bit of Morbid Angel's video for "Rapture", but a bit simpler. It gets the job done though, I like it. The layout looks alright, it's consistent and fairly crisp. The imagery of computer generated snakes and fire surrounding a pentagram is of course rather cheesy, but hey, this band has never been one for the subtle. The same goes for the lyrics, but in all truth Krisiun's lyrics are a lot better than average for my money: "Blackened sights of everlasting apocalyptic visions, Desolate souls cry - for holocaustic revelations, Perishing eternity dominates the obliterated earth, Ashes of god's creation exalt the worms' inheritance." Pound for pound this is a great record, and from a writing standpoint it's possibly the band's best yet as a whole. If they continue is this direction I'd estimate that they'll definitely progress to an unexpected level in the near future. (7/10)
Running time - 31:55, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: Ethereal World, Wolfen Tyranny, Sentinel of the Fallen Earth]
Krisiun - http://www.krisiun.com.br

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