One sub-genre that has been missing from my blog of late is good old, proper slamming death metal. That changes to day though, with another dive into the vault known as my inbox. Today's gory subject is Norwegian death metal band Kraanium. Featuring band members who are or have been in a huge list of extreme metal bands from their homeland, this twelve-track ode to medical journals was released in May 2012 via Comatose Music. Kraanium have a new record coming out late this year, so it seems like a good time to get up close and personal with Post Mortal Coital Fixation. Hey, they even throw an Abominable Putridity cover in for good measure!
Tracklist:-
1. Post Mortal Fixation
2. Stillborn Necrotic Fuck Feast
3. Bursting Rectal Sores
4. Compulsive Mutilation Disorder
5. Slurping the Vaginal Pus
6. Crack Whore Pounding
7. Coprophagial Asphyxiation
8. Slammed Kranial Remains
9. Sculptures of Perverse Suffering
10. Baptized in Boiling Sewage
11. Orgy of Cannibalistic Fornication
12. Entrails Full of Vermin (Abominable Putridity cover)
2. Stillborn Necrotic Fuck Feast
3. Bursting Rectal Sores
4. Compulsive Mutilation Disorder
5. Slurping the Vaginal Pus
6. Crack Whore Pounding
7. Coprophagial Asphyxiation
8. Slammed Kranial Remains
9. Sculptures of Perverse Suffering
10. Baptized in Boiling Sewage
11. Orgy of Cannibalistic Fornication
12. Entrails Full of Vermin (Abominable Putridity cover)
This brand of death metal seems pretty under-appreciated to
me. There are lots of bands doing it but they seem to nestle just behind the
more melodic death metal bands for some reason. After the intro chug of Post
Mortal Fixation, things take a gory turn with Stillborn Neurotic Fuck Feast. You
know the score, kick drums, a tom that permeates the recording and those characteristic
pig squeals. This isn't your cookie-cutter deathcore though; this is fairly
technical and brutal, even if the guitars and vocals are swallowed up beneath
that tom to an extent!
Bursting Rectal Sores sounds as nasty as the ailment it
describes. It's here that you start to sense more interplay between the guitars
and the double bass. There's also more pinch harmonics going on within the
riffs. I definitely think that Kraanium are best heard up close and personal in
a live setting. I felt the urge to listen to more slam death after going to
this year's 'Kin Hell Fest and then watching a band from Leeds, called Tintagel
a few weeks later. Kraanium definitely fill that craving and as Compulsive
Mutilation Disorder fills the airwaves, it's hard to ignore why people loose
their shit to this.
Kraanium as a band have been releasing their brand of
gore-death since 2002, so with this record coming tens years after their first
demo, they've has plenty of time to hone their sound and ensure that it all
sound utterly filthy. I mean, you can't really go wrong with a song called
Slurping The Vaginal Pus now can you! Another thing I like about death metal is
that the majority of the bands filling the genre choose not to mess about.
They're too the point and just blast. Live, they do the same and don't bore
crowds with small talk. I can imagine Kraanium live shows are intense and full
of chaotic. In terms of progression and variation, you won’t really find it
nestling here though, so if you like your prog-death head elsewhere. The slower
closing section of Crack Whore Pounding does highlight Kraanium's ability to
groove though, which comes across really well.
Also, unlike bands like Nile and other American stalwarts,
Kraanium don't solo and prefer to take the Cannibal Corpse approach. Those short
song lengths stop the album from becoming an endurance test and keep you
interested. The speed seems to ratchet up during Coprophagial Asphyxiation in
places, as does the awesome technical lead guitar. The samples in between are
horror film or post mortem soundbites, as you'd quite rightly suspect. That grimness and intensity plunges through
during the second half of the record, making the like of Slammed Kranial Remains
and Sculptures of Perverse Suffering all the more torturous. When the latter settles
down into another groove and the guitars thicken up, once their allowed room,
it just sounds immense, which makes you wonder why the volume of the recording
wasn't turned up a few notches at the productions stage. I'm no expert on
production though; I just say what I hear. It still sounds no less punishing at
high volume.
All in all, Post Mortal Coital Fixation seems to fly by.
Baptized in Boiling Sewage is the briefest song on the record, apart from the
intro and Orgy of Cannibalistic Fornication is ferocious, but those growls
really make it all worth it. That Abominable Putridity cover that closes the
record is masterful. Kraanium keep the essence of the song intact. The guitars
seem thicker though and with the introspective sections that break up the verses,
they sound even more brutal. It's an epic way to end the album. Some people may baulk at the fact that Kraanium stick
to their chosen blueprint, but if you're a devout death-metal listener, you'll
no doubt already be into this. In my view, there can't be enough slamming death
bands in the metal ranks and it's definitely a sub-genre that deserves more
representation. Kraanium are killer and I can't wait to hear their new record
later this year!
Post Mortal Coital Fixation is streaming in it's entirety, with a beefed up sound on Youtube. Check it out below:-
Post Mortal Coital Fixation is streaming in it's entirety, with a beefed up sound on Youtube. Check it out below:-
You can buy the record on CD from Comatose Music at http://www.comatosemusic.com/store.
Kraanium Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/kraaniumslam
Comatose Music Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Comatosemusiclabel
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