eMusic Review 0
There aren't an abundance of albums that are awesome before they're ten seconds old, but that's exactly the case with this debut from Swedish black metal band Craft. You get a single isolated drum-roll as a warm-up, and then it's full-on Armageddon. The title track is a massive, stomping monster, fusing the lurch of early '90s hardcore to pitch-black death metal de-tunings. Ditto "(Desolation) Death," where vocalist Nox (short for Noxious?) strains mightily against the limits of his larynx. And while Craft specializes in full-on assault, this is hardly a record of monochromatic pounding and thrashing: songs stop on a dime, change tempos, guitars bend back like slingshots and odd shards of melody sparkle out in the darkness. Indeed, they don't even have to be playing to disturb: the churning sound-collage outro is one of the most unsettling pieces of music I've ever heard.
