By Jonni D
Unique Leader Records has been stealthily proving itself to be one of the most exciting purveyors of experimental extreme music in the last few years; thanks to the contribution of acts such as Ingested and Brand Of Sacrifice. Add to that list North Carolina’s, Krosis. Their 2018 album ‘Solem Vatum’ garnered well deserved respect from those in the know upon release, but its follow-up, ‘A Memoir of Free Will’, takes the band’s willingness to fuck with the conventions of the death metal genre far beyond its traditional parameters.
Much like fellow progressive death metallers Rivers Of Nihil, Krosis demonstrate a practiced knowledge of musical theory (especially jazz influenced polyrhythms), while maintaining an accessibility to their more indulgent moments. ‘To Persist Or Adhere’ juxtaposes twanging quasi-djent riffing with underpinning counter rhythmic blast beats courtesy of drummer, Dan Cece. The same track will later utilise mellifluous lead guitar lines that bear resemblance to the serene flourishes of Ihshan’s recent solo work, adding a welcome anthemic element.
Make no mistake, there’s brutality aplenty, but executed with a remarkable attention to space and dynamics. Opener ‘Gone, But Not Forgotten’ features Mac Smith’s impressive transition from bellowed gutturals to his characteristic, and delightfully cartoonish, high end shrieks – with Messrs Adam Thiessen and Brandon Scurlock providing dizzying displays of deathcore riffs into jittering stabs of staccato, à la Between The Buried And Me at their mathiest. And yet, one of the record’s most memorable moments arrives early, in the form of the simple inclusion of a solitary synth note; sustained for just long enough to draw your attention, and becoming a leitmotif, as it rears its head numerous times throughout the album’s runtime. It’s an incredibly subtle detail, but one that is testament to the band’s ability to tastefully employ added embellishments to colour their arrangements.
Unafraid to tiptoe beyond the borders of metal, ‘Insanity: A Moniker Of Me’ relies on frenetic chord changes and sounds that are more attributable to the hardcore leanings of a band like Norma Jean, before seguing into a proggy bass-led passage that highlights the four-string prowess of Brian Kahe. Even when the band does stick to a more resolutely death metal style, they avoid the easy pitfall of monotonous savagery by interjecting with sudden bursts of electronic sections, as is the case on the otherwise grooving ‘Psychoticylism.’.
Krosis benefit themselves by incorporating a broad stylistic canvas, and in doing so create a genuinely unpredictable and captivating album with ‘A Memoir Of Free Will’. For those who enjoy their extreme music to be on the more experimental side, these guys have every right to trouble your headphones for the near future.
- ‘A Memoir of Free Will’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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