ALBUM REVIEW: Krv – Krv

Formed by Nicolas Zivkovich and Louis Lambert of seminal French doom/post rock act DDENT, KRV look set to make significant waves within the impressive French black metal scene with their self-titled debut. Blending grating, ferocious black metal and solid, electronic percussion, KRV stand out for all the right reasons, getting just the right balance between raw, blacked brilliance and a sharp, industrial sound, with their album standing as perhaps the most interesting and memorable record to incorporate this style since MYSTICUM‘s Planet Satan.

Motherless Abyss is a dark and fierce way to kick off the album. Dense, dirge-like guitars, a thunderous bass hook and tight, electronic drumming, make for a raw and impressive sound, with a few subtle, Gothic flourishes added to give it a dramatic, powerful feel, with feral vocals and discordant leads making everything sound all the more aggressive. It’s a great start to the record that draws the listener in immediately. Forlorn picks up where the previous track left off, with caustic black metal riffs and arid vocal deliveries blending with sharp, industrial beats, making for a bleak and forceful offering.

Flamme Noire utilises cleaner guitar tones and a steadier pace, crafting a much more brooding sound, punctuating by oppressive, visceral moments and some fantastic, syncopated drumming that really carries the music at points, and gives it a much more driven and chaotic undercurrent. It’s a powerful piece of music that does an excellent job of getting the balance between the black metal and industrial elements just right. Open Your Temple Unto Him, a relatively short track, acts as an extremely atmospheric interlude that not only separates the first and last three tracks, but also adds to the album significantly, injecting this song with a haunting, ambient side that is complemented perfectly by the haunting, soaring vocals that accompany it.

Hécatombe is a monolithic affair, once again built around authoritative electronic drums and a murky, cacophonous guitar sound that has a solid, thick groove running throughout it. It’s a great track that is absolutely saturated with brilliant riffs and bellicose, venom soaked vocals, which maintain much of the ferocity that’s marked the record up until this point, whilst allowing the electronic elements to shine through.

Autarcie Spirituelle has a monstrous, primitive sound that provides a thick, rhythmic extremity to this songs sound, with hellish, tortured vocals and minimalist, jarring guitar parts giving this an immersive and captivating sound whilst adding to the intensity. It’s a great, primal slab of savage black metal that ultimately proves to be the heaviest number on the record. Transcendence Through Death, with its massive, expansive guitar sound and powerful drum hooks, proves to be an amazing climactic track that features some brilliantly dissonant moments and rabid vocals, making for a song that manages to be both harsh and epic in equal measure, bringing this album to a close on one of its best tracks, leaving the listener eager to hear more.

Krv manages to a achieve something very few records are capable of; it successfully encapsulates the classic black metal style without sounding generic for even a second. This is mainly due to the use of electronic drums giving Krv a crisp, industrial feel. The black metal side of KRV is also fantastic, being raw enough to give an unwary listener a bad case of food poisoning, whilst being sharp enough to allow the best parts of the music to shine through. It’s a truly refreshing and engrossing record to observe, and gives this band an amazing musical base upon which to craft their future releases.

Rating: 8/10

Krv is out now via Chien Noir Productions. 

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