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All hail to the power of the riff! Once again we're facing an amazing throwback into the ancient era of doom metal and once again an Italian band shows us the way into the fuzzy underground of the slowest member of the metal family. With lyrics influenced fantasy literature and crushing riffs, we're being treated to a psychedelic and occult trip into mysterious realms. Oh, how I love those realms.
Kröwnn hails from Venice, a city that is widely known for its canals and its romantic atmosphere. In fact, Venice constists of 118 seperate islands. I didn't know that yet and it's not really important for this review but it never hurts to learn something, right? Besides, it makes me imagine this band reheasing on one of these islands. They must be responsible for many tremendous waves in the water and cracks in the houses with their massive, bass filled riffs and their pounding drums.
Because that's exactly what you can expect from Kröwnn, solid doom metal, similar to deities like Black Sabbath, Pentagram and Saint Vitus. However, they don't just stay in the ancient ways. At times the also remind me of bands like Type O Negative, Electric Wizard or Cathedral. So in that aspect, this is a high quality mix of pure doom.
Of course the riff is the central element in the music on Magmafröst and that's what the main part of this album constists of, long instrumental passages of heavy guitars, guided by pounding drums. Vocals are actually quite rare and only present if they can enhance the music. Somehow they sound like a mix between Ozzy and Peter Steele. Yet, as they're not the most important part of the music, they're mixed somewhat into the background, enhancing the mysterious sentiment.
I love the sound of the bass guitar of this album. In some bizarre way it sounds (to me) as if comes from the mud beneath this beautiful city, bursting out in rhythmic belches from the belly of earth. In 'To Minas Morgul' for example, the bass growls like a beast from ancient mythology. This song is probably one of my favourites on this album but it's pretty hard to choose since they're all very strong and epic anthems.
Sometimes as in 'Sleipnir' or near the end of 'Wölfhunt' the tempo goes up, crossing the border between doom and vintage hard rock. However, the thick layer of fuzz always and almost continuously maintains the gist on this album. It's remarkable that a quite elementary riff can become such a massive weapon, but it really moves the listener and make this such a pleasant album to listen to. So kudos to Kröwnn, you have impressed me and I hope you will impress many more people with this stuff...
Serge
p.s. The outro is brilliant !!!
Kröwnn hails from Venice, a city that is widely known for its canals and its romantic atmosphere. In fact, Venice constists of 118 seperate islands. I didn't know that yet and it's not really important for this review but it never hurts to learn something, right? Besides, it makes me imagine this band reheasing on one of these islands. They must be responsible for many tremendous waves in the water and cracks in the houses with their massive, bass filled riffs and their pounding drums.
Because that's exactly what you can expect from Kröwnn, solid doom metal, similar to deities like Black Sabbath, Pentagram and Saint Vitus. However, they don't just stay in the ancient ways. At times the also remind me of bands like Type O Negative, Electric Wizard or Cathedral. So in that aspect, this is a high quality mix of pure doom.
Of course the riff is the central element in the music on Magmafröst and that's what the main part of this album constists of, long instrumental passages of heavy guitars, guided by pounding drums. Vocals are actually quite rare and only present if they can enhance the music. Somehow they sound like a mix between Ozzy and Peter Steele. Yet, as they're not the most important part of the music, they're mixed somewhat into the background, enhancing the mysterious sentiment.
I love the sound of the bass guitar of this album. In some bizarre way it sounds (to me) as if comes from the mud beneath this beautiful city, bursting out in rhythmic belches from the belly of earth. In 'To Minas Morgul' for example, the bass growls like a beast from ancient mythology. This song is probably one of my favourites on this album but it's pretty hard to choose since they're all very strong and epic anthems.
Sometimes as in 'Sleipnir' or near the end of 'Wölfhunt' the tempo goes up, crossing the border between doom and vintage hard rock. However, the thick layer of fuzz always and almost continuously maintains the gist on this album. It's remarkable that a quite elementary riff can become such a massive weapon, but it really moves the listener and make this such a pleasant album to listen to. So kudos to Kröwnn, you have impressed me and I hope you will impress many more people with this stuff...
Serge
p.s. The outro is brilliant !!!