KROMORTH: Opposition
Release year: 2021
Label: Iron, Blood And Death Corporation
Although the term “bestial” is usually applied to bands of a more black metal bent – primitive, furious bands who lace their violent, archaic black metal with elements from equally archaic death metal – I feel there are also death metal bands whom the descriptor fits.
With their crude, primitive and boneheaded take on death metal, Brazilian Kromorth are certainly a fit. Whilst there’s really no elements from black metal here, I feel a certain musical-spiritual kinship to the more death metal oriented bestial black metal bands. At least in one important factor this is undeniably true: the Brazilians’ boneheaded metal of death rejects anything modern. This is viciously old-school.
Kromorth aren’t newcomers to the game by any means: they started out already in 1999. With only one brief hiatus in their career, the band have reached the 20-year mark. You wouldn’t guess that by looking at their discography: one demo, one album, and Opposition, a three-track EP. These guys certainly take their time.
Pummeling the listener with primitive, even crude bestial death metal, there’s no finesse or sophistication to this. No, it’s all about violence. The three tracks are basically all from the same mould, with viciously pounding drums, sawing guitars and vocals that are a hoarse howl. At times, for some reason, I think of a more primitive, lo-fi and crude Angelcorpse. I can’t really explain why, but there’s something here that makes me think of the US underground legends.
The sound of the EP is a slightly off-balance murk. The furious drums slightly dominate in the mix, whilst the bass is buried way back. This makes the music sound slightly off-center, like there’s no glue holding the buzzsawing guitars and the barrage of drums together. You might imagine this would be a major detractor, and whilst it does take some time getting used to, it also adds a whole new level of chaos to the whole thing. I kind of dig it.
Opposition is barely a snack. With a running time of merely fifteen minutes, the three tracks serve to whet the appetite, nothing more. You can read that as a success for the Brazilians: I certainly wouldn’t mind a full-length sized portion of the same.
If extreme metal of a furiously, primitively violent manner is your cup of tea, you definitely should check this out. Opposition isn’t quite an outstanding release, one for the ages, but it is absolutely worth giving fifteen minutes of your time.
Only Death Is Real 