I've spent a lot of time talking about the work of Colin James Marston, not only because of his amazing work as a producer, but also as a musician. I've reviewed some of his work, like synthy ambient or chaotic brutal tech death, and even if he's been part of bands like Behold The Arctopus and Dysrhythmia before actually forming Krallice, to me it always felt like Krallice was the main course. So it's even weirder that, other than a split, I haven't actually reviewed a Krallice album. And all that talk of Marston shouldn't make it seem like this is his project, with Mick Barr, Nick McMaster, and Lev Weinstein being just as skillfully experimental and vital forces in the scene, joining Marston is several projects, or being part of or the entireties of Beastlor, Geryon, or Bloody Panda. Time to right that wrong.
Krallice's career has been marked by differing amounts of straight-forwardness and experimentation. Atypical rhythms and atonal dissonance abound, but every time in just a different enough way. Listening to Crystalline Exhaustion, it is weird for me to say that this is Krallice's most grounded and accessible album in a while, because it really isn't an accessible album by black metal standards, but it is by Krallice standards, probably since their debut. Perhaps the one Krallice album this is easiest to compare to is last year's Demonic Wealth, an album that did feel like a sort of reinvention due to its newfound love of synths, which have been previously tackled in 2017's Go Be Forgotten. But Demonic Wealth was more of a lockdown record, with members recording in isolation, and that disjointed feeling did seep into the album. Now Crystalline Exhaustion is a more polished take on that sound.
The improvements come not only on the production front, with the sound being beautifully eerie but consistently immersive, but also on the songwriting and performance, with the keys being even better integrated. On the performance front, it's worth noting that Marston is focusing almost entirely on the keys here, whereas bassist Mick McMaster and guitarist Mick Barr actually switched roles, giving both the guitar and the bass front a bit more of an unpredictable vibe. It is the bass especially that feels more punchy. While, at it's core being very technical atmospheric black metal, the eerie icy ambiance seems to be this album's most distinguishing feature, even getting a few space ambient moments in the massive title track, and somehow said ambiance and the hyper-technical nature of the music don't butt heads. Once the initial shock of the interplay wears off, the album is pretty consistent in this approach, hence the "grounded and accessible" comments. Maybe we've just gotten so used to Krallice that it feels accessible. This wouldn't have felt accessible ten years ago. But in 2022 it doesn't feel as claustrophobic or mind-numbing or pummeling as their work used to feel. And that is refreshing.
I can't say that I'm glad I didn't get to review Demonic Wealth, but now that both albums are out, it's pretty easy to tell which of the two is the best.
