Album Review: Diotima by Krallice

The third album by New York-based arty black metal band Krallice is the group's best work to date. Though the songs were mostly written during the same sessions that produced their previous releases, they seem to exhibit evolution, and a gradually expanding sonic palette. The basics of their sound remain the same -- high-pitched tremolo guitar, blasting drums, rumbling and surprisingly full (for black metal) bass -- but some of these songs, the title track and "Telluric Rings" in particular, are downright progressive, their complex structures and pulsing rhythms as reminiscent of Mahavishnu Orchestra or early-'70s King Crimson as of Mayhem or Marduk.

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Back in 2007 guitarist Mick Barr had an idea that was so simple in theory that when people heard the end result many were wondering why he hadn’t tried it sooner. Best known as the guitarist for Orthrelm and the creative force behind Ocrilim, Barr has always excelled at, sometimes even annoying listeners with a style that utilizes hyper fast tremelo picking and repetition to the point where it starts to resemble a dentist’s drill rather than a guitar. With Krallice, his project with Dysrhythmia/Behold…the Arctopus guitarist Colin Marston, Barr simply placed that decidedly avant-garde technique within a straightforward black metal template.

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It must have been during the fifth or sixth listen when I finally realized that the appropriate reaction for Diotima-- the third album in four years from New York black metal supergroup Krallice-- was laughter. That's a surprising response to a record that lyrically keys on the transience of existence, the failures of our best efforts, and the high costs of man's lowly sexual instincts. But my chuckle was the delirious sort, based on my own addled exhaustion.

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