Kronos
Colossal Titan Strife
6
After Kronos’s extremely underwhelming last effort Reawakening the Titans, I wasn’t expecting too much from this album. However, a label switch (from Warpath to Xtreem) seems to have injected these French deathsters with a renewed vigor that has them a breath away from being mentioned with the likes of Kabbal and 7th Nemesis.
Continuing their infatuation with all things Titan and Greek related, Kronos belt out some solid if unoriginal death metal (what else is there?), that features a superb production, some razor sharp guitars, a few tempo shifts and screamed/growled vocals. Kataklysm comes to mind as an easy reference point. Despite all the positives though, Kronos do little to identify themselves from a swarming second tier of competent death metal.
The first thing you will notice is the punishing bass drums that utterly dominates the overall sound, but also drowns out the bass guitar, it gives Kronos a pretty weighty edge; a far cry from their previous horribly muted production. This girth gives the often generic riffing some appealing substance, glossing the blastbeats and expected slow breaks a polish that lifts the songwriting somewhat. Speaking of songwriting, while Kronos appear to have developed considerably since their Suffocation cloning effort of Reawakening, the songs are still largely forgetful, once you get past the ballistic production; the blastbeats are typically brutal, sure to fire up any appreciative fan of the medium, but the few times Kronos attempt a change of pace, that certain sense of noteworthy groove or breakdown lacks slightly. The underlying sense of melody that Kataklysm deliver is also missing, which leaves most of the songs pretty characterless, despite their punishing style. Not quite on a Hate Eternal or Pessimist level of facelessness, but enough that when the disc stops spinning I can’t recall much from the album above the ringing sound rendered from the drums. That being said, there’s no doubting the skill of the band though, as they can go toe to toe with any of their aforementioned country mates, or most in the genre for that matter.
Even if predictable with their sonic assault, Kronos are at least different in their lyrical leaning: “Opplomak”, "With Eaque Sword”, “Aeternum Pharaos Curse” and “Phaeton” choose ancient cultures of Greece, Rome and Egypt as their subject matter rather than the usual gore/Satan/sexual deviancy fare. To be honest though, other than the Arabic laced “Aeternum Pharaos Curse”, you’d be hard pressed to tell with the guttural growl and pretty much standard death metal styling, a little Nile/Melechesh flair to their music might complement the interesting themes and give Kronos a little more character.
The six minute "Phaeton" hints at Kronos' capabilities to the limit with a tempting mix of low end blasting and a deft shift to a rare chug, but it's a fleeting glimpse of their potential followed up by the more typical, predictable carnage of "Kronos". “Monumental Carnage” hints at a change in pace during its opening bars, showing Kronos have it somewhere to throw a sonic curveball, but it soon careens into familiar US death territory, being well done but generic. And that kind of sums up the album really, it lacks the crushing moments of the recently reviewed Despondency, but still manages to entertain with a high gloss, skilled musicianship, but average songwriting. Still, I’ve heard much worse, and the improvement between albums is promising. Not a must have, but worth your time if you absolutely need some solid, well produced death metal.
Pas trop mauvais.
