Krohm "A World Through Dead Eyes" CD

old, ancient BM imbued with majestic melancholy and Burzumic despair. Dario (DAQ) drummer's Grim Mesmerizing BM attack!!! A must for any who worship the cold darkness!!!

Krohm's first album continues the soundscapes and effect of his demo Crown of the Ancients. This album, poetically named A World Through Dead Eyes is exactly what it promises. A trip to the paradoxical thought of sensing a world without any chance to be part of it anymore, after death and bathing in blind coldness and void. Same atmosphere was already present in the very convincing demo Crown of the Ancients which ideas are now developed into 50+ minute depressive and hauntingly beautiful musical whole.
There are seven tracks in this album. I can safely say now, after approximately two years of occasional listening, that none of them are there in vain. All seven tracks have unique and even incredible compositions that most often cannot be named over another track. Like usually, black metal albums work as a strong whole and not only as couple of nice and good tracks to listen through more often than the rest of the album. The music in A World Through Dead Eyes is mainly very slow and middle-paced with strong importance on distorted guitar strings. Drums are well mixed in the foggy atmosphere alongside synths which are also very important in the mentioned demo. Numinas' vocals have a personal sound, they are not monotonous screams like sometimes in this kind of depressive black metal, but rather easily heard growls and howls with even recognizable lyrics dealing with dark emotions and cosmic nightmares, both being the essences of strong atmosphere.
All songs have their proudest moments of musical magic and highlights. I mean mostly the guitar that has some of the most draining and darkly eerie melodies I have heard in all black metal or any other dark music I know. Numinas is clearly at best expressing his despair and darkest visions of misanthropy with his six-string instrument. He uses higher and lower scales of lonely strings or more powerful tones, needless to say mostly in minor. The first example of this that took me away with the first listens was the third track, The Waning. That song has a painfully beautiful beginning after which the main guitar riff appears shortly before the singing. This is among the most amazing moments on Krohm's album. The first guitar melodies of The Waning are amongst the most beautiful and sorrowful you'll ever hear in black metal. Minimalistic, hopelessly sorrowful and honest.
The first track, I Suffer The Astral Woe is a strong start for the journey into darkness and catharsis. Once the singing starts, we are introduced to a simple yet menacing guitar melody that has its own calmly captivating rhythm with some nice synth sounds, too. Soon a moment of breath is offered as the guitar introduces a new direction the song will be taking. This guitar line begins with the same three notes that Veneria's Call (on Crown of the Ancients) in its similar moment in the middle of the song. This moment works perfectly in both songs and both turn more menacing via this new melody introduction. "Creator of creators, rip me from this breathing shell" depicts the rest of the atmosphere achieved.
The only faster moments on this album take place near the end. The sixth track, Silence Turns to Gray has faster moment as well as the last track, My Hearse, which begins with simple yet very ominous faster collaboration of guitar and drums. My Hearse is also amongst the strongest points in this album. It soon turns into very slow and funereal musical narrative that takes long to end... totally. I cannot imagine anything else during this mighty closing track but total death and blackness, interpreted from words, visions, fears and other human emotions into nearly ten-minute work of musical brilliance. The end part of My Hearse has a hypnotizing solo-like moment when the electric guitar appears over the repetitive slow mass, after which the whole album is closed with touching acoustic guitar very similar with the ending of Veneria's Call. The only difference to that demo I can name is that the synths sound even more haunting in Veneria's Call.
It is hard to find any negative aspects in Krohm's first album. This music is among some other depressive black metal offerings that have created so thorough and mystically rich material that any definition to certain genre "black metal" isn't at all necessary. This music just happens to use many elements and key instruments of black metal. Alongside Xasthur's greatest achievements (for example songs like Telepathic With the Deceased and the instrumental version of Suicide in Dark Serenity) Krohm is musical brilliance from the darkest depths of human existence. And yet Krohm sounds totally personal without any clear pointings to any other band or project out there. Krohm and A World Through Dead Eyes are that remarkable.

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