Kratornas mixes two of metal’s most extreme subgenres, Black & Grindcore, into one. Does that remind us of a certain band? Of course it does. That being said, Kratornas does it a little bit different than the notorious Anaal Nathrakh. Where Anaal Nathrakh sounded pitch-black in their early days and psychotic in their later days, Kratornas are ‘just extreme’.

Don’t get me wrong, if you’re in for a good bit of mindless debauchery, Kratornas is all game. Sole member “Bruno Zamora” does knows how to go all-out. On The Corroding Age Of Wounds, he set set his drum computer to ‘blast inhumanely fast’ and hooked it up with a sterile and dry sound for extra viciousness. He spews his filth threw shrieks and croaks and throws out one high-speed noise-riff after another. For the icing on the cake, he must’ve thought, “I’ll mix in the occasional blistering shredfest-solo á la a drunk Kerry King in the background, and my nihilistic sonic manifesto is complete!

Well, unfortunately that doesn’t work as well as you’d imagine. Is it corrosive? Certainly. Utterly extreme? Undeniably. Incredibly intense? Not so much. Why not? Because it lacks songwriting that captures and embraces the listener. It’s too sterile, perhaps, but certainly too samey and dull. After metal really went extreme in the eighties, people like Mr. Zamora needs to realize that mere speed and distortion just doesn’t cut it anymore. We need new ideas, innovators and new musical concepts if we want to keep pushing the boundaries of extreme music. Music like this is impressive only to the inexperienced. Save a few catchy parts scattered around, largely forgettable.

Performance: 7
Songwriting: 5
Originality: 5
Production: 6

RATING: 6.0

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