Description

Swedish Craft plays black metal heavily in the vein of earlier bands such as Darkthrone but also have some doomy Black Sabbath-esque parts in their music. ‘Total Soul Rape’ is their debut album. The second this album starts you’re bludgeoned in the face with a drum fill by Daniel and then the first song ‘World of Plague’ kicks in. It’s a ferocious introduction; with blastbeats, tremolo guitar, distorted bass and a tormented scream all kicking up a chaotic fury. What sets Craft apart from most Black Metal bands, though, is the variety of time changes and strange drum rhythms. A perfect example would be ‘Past, Present, Dead’ where it starts off at a blasting pace, only to slow right down half-way through with a riff that sounds exactly like something from an early Sabbath record. Another great example would be “(Desolation) Death” which is mainly a heavy mid-tempo song with some doom-paced parts, full of the aforementioned weird drum rhythms and chock full of great riffs. The production on “Total Soul Rape” is surprisingly clear and well-balanced for a Black Metal release. The guitars have a heavy, slightly reverbed, thick-as-treacle Celtic Frost sound that perfectly coincide with the chunky bass; which is quite audible. The drums, however, are what stand out most on this release. As they are quite high in the, they are what hits you while listening to this album. In fact, everything sounds fucking perfect on this album, and when its all overlayed; those eerie vocals, the Necro guitars, that chunky bass and those crushing drums its audial heaven (or hell, really). It really creates an atmosphere of total darkness and chaos as the songs blast along at breakneck speed or slow right down to their doomy pace. Track listing: 1. World Of Plague 2. Death To Planet Earth 3. (Desolation) Death 4. Chaos 5. Ultimate Satan 6. Past, Present, Dead 7. Total Soul Rape 8. Vile 9. Outro