Band:	Krallice
Album:	Mass Cathexis
Style:	Avantgarde black metal
Release date:	August 07, 2020
A review by:	Troy Killjoy

01. Feed On The Blood Of Rats
02. Set
03. The Wheel
04. Aspherance
05. The Myth
06. Mass Cathexis
07. The Form
08. The Formed
09. All And Nothing

Remaining at the head of the trail being blazed can be exhausting, but it can also invigorate the senses by providing inspiration for sources of new ideas.

Having paved the path for many a follower with their off-kilter brand of technically charged black metal, Krallice achieved a full circle rotation resulting in the chasing of their own jagged tails, forming a constant tug-of-war state between their innovation and the continued sonic expansion of their peers. Incorporating the universe of influence from their New York origins in an effort to create invasive aural textures of complexity over the better part of a decade, they've succeeded not only in helping shine the light on an oft-overlooked area of murky avant-garde dissonance, but also in showcasing the virtuosity and progressive thought structures of black metal's musicians in regards to what constitutes the formula of extremity.

Mass Cathexis works as a harrowing pressure cooker featuring a burdensome atmosphere that maintains its grounded realism through excellent use of hypnotic melodic riffing, ensuring its listeners (and creators) don't get carried away beyond the ominous grey skies and end up stranded too close to the sun. It's finely tuned and delivered at times menacingly, other times in a more welcoming and accessible rendition, mostly when served on the same platter as its saccharine side menu: an effervescent ambiance that pulls incessantly at the weighty bass lines like a garrote. It tightens steadfastly around the atmospheric girth, a chastity belt stifling the cacophony of noisy plucking from spewing up any unwanted excess. And beyond all of the combative instrumentation competing simultaneously to be heard and silenced, there lies in wait an intensely grimy, seedy underbelly of offal and sewage. New York indeed.

Readily fulfilling the expectation of being a big picture oddity, Mass Cathexis is a cautionary resolution that shows exactly where the Krallice ideology was generated, exploring avenues previously touched upon, but never delved into. The sound is more concise, as these sporadic iterations vary so quickly between each other that they rarely allow the listener enough time to digest them before they're abandoned in favor of a radically shifted chord progression that leads into further uncharted territory. They refuse to dwell on any particular aspect of their sound, straying as far as possible from droning repetition, making a concerted effort to alter direction seemingly whenever possible. After all, it's easiest to lead where no one else is willing to follow.