Shit! They're all here: Satan, Death, Cerberus, and the evil minions... Waters turned into lava, huge explosions, ruins of human cultures... Filipino one-man band Kratornas unleashed his second full length album over mankind a couple of months ago, and what you get with it is chaotic thrashy black metal.

The opener 'Beasts from the Sea' is seven and a half minutes long, starting with a foreboding mid-pace riffing, and you're ready to believe that this album where the average song length is six minutes, is filled with this kind of mid-paced stuff all the way through. But no fucking way. After 30 seconds to the first song, the infernal blasting begins. The blast or very fast beats are occasionally cut by a bit slower tempos, but if you're not able/willing to get almost constant drum machine firing on all its cylinders, then steer clear of this album. But those who seek for extreme form of thrashy black metal, this album is for you. Nearly on the whole consisting of nasty 'n' fast thrashy (German way) nineties black metal, there are some atmospheric (well, isn't all of it atmospheric then??? Yes, it is, but hopefully you get my meaning) parts as well as evil death metal bits found on the closer 'Deathpuzzle'. If you seek melody, then you're listening to a wrong band. The song structures sound scrappy, but the absence of the lyrics sheet might explain some of that.

The high-toned guitar is rusty and totally ripping (insane finger-tipping solos must be mentioned too), the drum machine loud and echoing, and somewhat variable demonic vocals are guttural shrieking with a big reverb and basically fully uncomprehending without the lyrics. Oh yeah, there are some occasions when the bass is heard, too! This is all homespun excluding the mastering, and surely would benefit from decent studio production.

'The Corroding Age of Wounds' is aural hell, simply put. Just like the band's debut album 'Over the Fourth Part of the Earth' (2007), there is something insanely gripping about this shit! That feeling is getting stronger when a listener starts to find, that in this chaos there are conspicuous threads running all around it, like the chaotic universe itself. Consider yourself warned.

Rating: 6 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
04/26/2009 18:58