Phrenesis

Krater - “Phrenesis” 2024

Krater
“Phrenesis”

Origin: Lichtentanne, Saxony, Germany

Genre: Black Metal

Label: Eisenwald

In this reversed bipolar age when the principles of the past are now deemed worthless and as societal fabric rapidly unfurls around us, the individual descent into madness is often a quick one. A process that formerly took years perhaps, now a steady and fluid transformation. You can feel it every day: those random thoughts of jerking the wheel and sending your own car reeling off the road, those fractions of a second when you think about punching the person who is talking to you directly in the face and those seconds of existential dread when the reality of how miserable life truly is paired with the fear of your own mortality creep in. But your defense mechanisms boot up and redirect your thoughts. If they didn’t, you would know what it is to be insane…

Germany’s Krater emerged onto the European black metal scene in 2003, and since their inception, they’ve provided enthusiasts with a balanced approach to black metal that harkens back to the olde days, all the while as it forecasts a most dynamic future for the genre. And perhaps the latter is the real meat-off-the-bone here, because to listen to Krater is not to become overwhelmed by the urge to stroll through the forest or to burn down a church. With Krater, BM is a psychological endeavor; one of suspense, despair and existential crisis. On May 31, Krater will release “Phrenesis” via Eisenwald.

Like a siren song for the mad, the opening track, “Hopesmoker - Celestial Apex”, unfolds to maniacal passages fraught with aggressive riffs and progressive flashes that give way to dreadful chants set to tribal rhythms. A soundtrack to rouse you into a state of calculated frenzy. So melancholy yet so feverish… The descent into madness is oftentimes a depressing one and something I personally wouldn’t wish upon any soul. Those miserable moments captured so profoundly during “Schattengeister” as somber arrangements and desperate vocals send you spiraling toward full release from the shackles of sound thinking into where the nightmarish possibilities are endless.

With “Phrenesis”, Krater offer up all the conventional black metal trimmings along with this dynamically progressive vibe that radiates through some of the more cutting edge album cuts like “Splitter” with its epic, almost Rotting Christ level of compositional imaginativeness and “Enlightenment’s Grieving” as it conveys supernatural Emperor or Gaahls WYRD levels of grandiosity and ritualism. Undeniably talented and possessing of an astute black metal IQ Krater has once again proven to be. And as the committed writhe in the prison of their own psychosis and as the free ones manifest their insane plots, you can’t help but wonder just how far away you are from your own psychotic break. Time may only tell… So, prepare to daringly venture into the realm of the visceral and experience black metal of a most terrifying consort. “Phrenesis” awaits…

Experience “Hopesmoker - Celestial Apex” from “Phrenesis” right here as presented by Eisenwald:

https://youtu.be/fIObDOrcDRA?si=hh8an6enlCczyQsS

~Jeger