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██▌ Artist...: Kruna ░▐██▌
░▐██ Album....: Last Century ░██▌░
▓▐██ Year.....: 2013 ▓▐██▓
▓▐██ Rel.Date.: 2021-03-07 ░▐██▓
▐██ Genre....: Death Metal ██▌░
░ ██▌ Label....: Bakerteam Records ██▌
▐██ Source...: CD ▐██
░▐██▌ Type.....: Album ▐██▌░
▓▄████ Quality..: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo ████▌░
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1. Man God's Temple 3:38
2. Bloody Centuries 4:08
3. Confessor 3:12
4. Phoenix 4:57
5. Death Without War 4:52
6. Back in Time 3:17
7. Ten Lies 4:10
8. Mob 5:11
9. Not for Me 3:29
10. Death by War 4:28
11. Armor 7:39
------
49:01
We all know the banes of the average melodic death metal band, right?
Pardon the history lesson, but At The Gates had the party closed down
after they showed up and told everyone to get their shit and get the
fuck out. A lot of bands pounce on the opportunity to become the next At
The Gates, and why not? Doing so is quick, easy, and accessible. Look at
a group like The Black Dahlia Murder, who've instilled a monumental
following and legacy, simply by applying the sub-genre's honest antics
and not dropping the ball when it counts. However, calling a lot of
these groups flops is like bashing gays at a Westboro Baptist Church
sermon, and hearing so many factions try the same damn thing with few
emerging from the sea of mediocrity has ruined much of melodic death
metal's integrity.
Kruna, Italy's answer to The Black Dahlia Murder, is one such victim of
this miserable plague. "Last Century," Kruna's first album, is done up
strictly by the numbers. I guess they sound like The Black Dahlia
Murder, or At The Gates circa 1994 or so, so they at least have that
going for them. Not much else can be said about the album, I'm afraid.
It's melodic death metal chopped up and served just the way any seasoned
veteran of the aforementioned sound could picture, bringing nothing new
to the table thatÆd imply Kruna is any different from the horde of
groups doing exactly what they're doing here. Long story short, the
songwriting, transitions, riffs, and general scope of things are all
trivial and pretty much useless. Songs fly in and out like flapjacks at
a busy dinerùsame music, different band.
It'd be rather redundant flying through detailed descriptions of these
tracks, because they all sort of take the same cues and processes and
rehash the same structures thirteen times over with different riffs and
stuff. Not a whole lot works well for Kruna outside of their songwriting
woes, as the riffs they pound out (typical melodic death metal riffs,
really) are sour and bland, and Kruna's vocalist is remarkably vapid and
generic. The drums aren't doing anything worthwhile as wellùcompletely
boring and uneventful. Damn. I've retained a bit of "Back in Time" for
whatever reason, however, and the guitarists are certainly happy to
shred like shredders shredding shreds of shredded shreds, so that's a
little fun, too.
A few noteworthy moments here and there, but not much more can be said
about "Last Century" in a favorable manner. Songs such as "Death Without
War" and "Death by War"ùreally creative with the song titlesùare simply
there, screwing around in Kruna's safe little bubble. I've heard "Last
Century" before, an album authorized and released by a dozen different
bands that all do the same thing, sadly. I know I'm rehashing the same
point here, but melodic death metal bands like Kruna aren't doing
anything to rise above the herd, and so the herd is where they shall
remain. I'd recommend this to fans of At The Gates or The Black Dahlia
Murder, but chances are you'll find better quality elsewhere.
---
While there isn't a whole lot to recommend with Last Century, the debut
album of an Italian five piece melodeath act Kruna (apparently Croatian
for Crown), there isn't a lot to condemn either. It's a pretty standard
outing into the realms of fast paced, pseudo aggressive modern melodic
death metal that hints now at thrash, then at metalcore. Solid
musicianship mixes with bland shouted vocals that only occasionally
venture toward a growl or a scream and the songwriting breaks zero new
ground. The guitars are decent, the drums are good and the bass is
mostly present in the mix if you listen for it.
The major downfall of this album, apart from the lack of originality and
memorability, is a mistake that many bands starting out in this genre
make; the inability to properly temper melody with expression of
emotion. It's too polished, not raw enough. There are passages, such as
in Death Without War where I could feel the fury lurking without ever
taking control, and it's frustrating as with a little more power some of
these tracks could have been proper fist pumping head banging anthems.
The album does pick up the further in you get. The pace gets switched up
a bit, the drums are allowed to roam a little and we get some more
adventurous riffs. Back in Time kicks off well and delivers for the most
part, with a slight punky flavour to the riffage and song structure and
some pummelling drum work. The guitars in the second half of Mob are a
pleasure. Unfortunately it's not until the final and longest track on
the album, Armor that we get to see what the axemen can truly do.
Fans of late At The Gates, early The Haunted, Sylosis and The Black
Dahlia Murder may enjoy this album, but it's hard to see it becoming a
favourite when those and other bands have done this before, and done it
better.
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