Track Review: Krallice ‘Wolf’

The Queens, N.Y. based band’s bio on Bandcamp reads “black metal or not”, making it a bit bewildering to decipher whether they are in fact a black metal band or not. Maybe they are though because although there are no high-pitch, screeching vocals, the band has brought their own authenticity to the genre and made it their own.

In 2008, the band known as Krallice was formed and signed to Profound Lore Records. The group consists of members Colin Martson on the guitar and vocals, Mick Barr on the guitar, Lev Weinstein on the drums, and Nick McMaster on the bass and vocals. In an interview, it was revealed that the band came up with the group name randomly, but later came to find that there is a meaning behind the word. Kralice is the name of a town in the Czech Republic and also an old Czech bible called The Kralice Bible. Since their formation, the quartet has released a total of 10 bodies of work. Their most recent and shortest release, Wolf EP, made its debut on January 9.

A thunderous, five-second drum intro starts off what is called “Wolf” by Krallice. A death growl that stretches out for the entire duration of the track begins shortly after. The slow tempo drumming speeds up at around the 2:30 minute mark as the strident Cookie Monster vocals continue to pierce my ears. At this point in the song, all I can visualize in my head is a crowd full of headbangers throwing up the rock on hand gesture with some occasional mosh pit action. It is difficult to make out what is being said throughout the song since it sounds like one long scream for a little over five minutes. Needless to say, this track does not tickle my ears like many others (that are not metal) do. Black metal seems to be a genre that you either like or not, no in-between. It is definitely a unique taste in music and nothing like I have ever heard before.