ALBUM REVIEW: Untopia – Kruelty
It’s already been three years since Japanese metallic hardcore quintet KRUELTY shook our blood with their outrageous debut album A Dying Truth. In all honesty, we are still trying to wrap our heads around the sheer brutality of the album, which used Japanese and East Coast 90s hardcore to viciously mutilate Scandi death-doom before burying it all in a slam coffin. Now they’ve dug it back up for round two with Untopia – and they’re not going any easier this time around.
Right from the word go, KRUELTY set out to make listeners as uncomfortable and tense as possible. What starts as a nightmarish soundscape of bells, screeches and chants becomes an explosion of malicious venom with Unknown Nightmare. Utterly disgusting at every level, the quintet set about on a trail of furious atrocity. From Tatami’s earthquaking vocals and Mani’s mountain-crumbling drums to the thick bass tone of Seina and the churning, crunching guitar work of Zuma and Ken. For the most part, it seems like business as usual, neatly picking up where their last LP left off; their beatdown is as cutting and maniacal as before, but this time imbued with absolute certainty of who they are and what their mission is.
Burn The System dials up the aggro and offers real pit-killing antics. Their hardcore influence is in full force here and really showcases Mani’s ludicrous snare tone. It’s something that has become a fixture of the genre (see SANGUISUGABOGG for truly laughable noises produced by a snare drum) but here it serves as a reminder of the brutal slam edge to their hardcore sound. It also gives a fantastic look at Tatami’s vastly improved vocal range – the way his highs are interspersed with his guttural roars is sublime, adding a schizophrenic quality to this deranged killer of an album.
On an album as heavy as this, it may seem impossible to pick out any one searing entry, but Maze Of Suffering stands out as a particularly fearsome beast. Weaving an element of death-doom into their sound, the track flits from fast and frenetic to slow and excruciating and back again without so much as a pause for breath. It’s a masterful command of KRUELTY’s myriad influence and direction, setting them apart from their contemporaries with terrifying ease. Maze Of Suffering further cements this rising up the ranks by bringing together hardcore two stepping, thrash and death metal without breaking a sweat. They make it sound effortless, like they have these rabid pitbulls in cast iron cages, rather than tethered by string.
Most impressive of all though is the way that KRUELTY manages to make these 37 minutes feel just half that length – their restless, wicked ways offer no refuge, no sanctity, and instead keep you running for your life throughout. If their debut album established them on the beatdown scene as ones to watch, this follow up sees the band reaching for the rusty, beat up, bloodied crown.
Rating: 8/10
Untopia is out now via Profound Lore Records.
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