Search - Craft :: Terror Propaganda

Terror Propaganda

See about me | North | 04/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I see this item has an average of five stars, thus far. My inner iconoclast snob usually gets the urge to rate it less than a five in such a case, but not so here. Craft is one of Sweden's finest black metal acts, despite lurking in the shadows of Dark Funeral and Marduk. People are always quick to compare these guys to Darkthrone, but the similarities are superficial at best. Darkthrone are adept in creating a strange sense of ambiance with rather simple musical techniques, whereas Craft are more complex in execution. They often utilize a twining and hissing guitar counterpoint, morphing conflicting sounds into a discordant sense of melody that is harsh as well as infectious. (The instrumental 616 is a testament to the band's unforgivingly harsh songwriting.)



Craft is also alot less droning than Darkthrone usually, coming closer to Mayhem than anything. As a brief observation, it's amazing where this band can really take a song in under 10 minutes while remaining cohesive. If you just zone out while listening to this album, you'll often find yourself forgetting Craft is playing conventional song structures. It seems sort of like a "wake up!" slap in the face once you hear a song's main riff come rolling back in, after being sucked in to a dense sphere of frostbitten accordance that explores Eastern scales, and flailing tremolos that hit the gut like the cold winds of winter in Sweden. This is the kind of subtle yet irreputable atmosphere that can only be made with guitars, vocals, and drums.



Mikael Nox's vocals have to be mentioned. They're a lower register growl, not terribly different than most black metal acts; But his screams are terrifying to say the least. I've droned on long enough about the musicianship, but for a brief rundown-- Volatile guitars that slice like samurai swords, nice non-blastbeat abusive drums, and uber-distorted bass craft (ho ho) the band's abrasive compositions. One last thing, though. Though I've thrown around synonyms for the word "catchy," these aren't tunes you can bop your head gleefully to on a car trip or something. I'm just saying with lyrics like "Do you feel the foul stench in the air/like corpses left to rot in the sun/nearly dead parasites trying to survive/it smells like humans," don't expect 3 Doors Down.

- Thus says the Pellington"

Great!

Desperate Existence | Hell | 08/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Best black metal album in years. Has the swagger of the more lax song / riff structure of Carpathian Forest, but also has the freezing cold bite of Ildjarn. Cheers to these true black metal heros!"