ALBUM REVIEW: No rest for the wicked as Krysthla release Peace in Our Time

AS soon as you see a band labelled as "extreme", "technical" "progressive" in the accompanying blurb for their release there is in many a reviewers' hearts a slight sense of trepidation. This invariably means more than the statutory three or four listens...

Ho hum, thus we sat down with Krysthla's upcoming release 'Peace In Our Time' and, yes it did take more than the statutory listens to really get the feeling on this eight-track release as we guided our way through the morass of noise to find some gems in this release.

On first listen a couple of tracks seem to have the band channelling their inner Gojira, holding unholy commune with Mastodon and enjoying a telepathic link with early Meshuggah - no bad thing really, but is it anything new.

Well, they have managed to produce an album that goes beyond their influences and adds their own English twist.

Adi Mayes hammers out the vocals with the intensity you'd expect from opener 'The Minor Mystery of Death' through to lengthy closer 'Eternal Oceans' and the musical synchronicity is clear from all five members.

There is no doubt that Neil Hudson and Noel Davis (guitars) have thought long and hard about how they came at the recording process and arrangements, while Carl Davis (bass) and Wayne Minney (drums) attack each track with vigour, seamlessly managing the time changes.

For all that is good from 'Peace In Our Time' it is not without its flaws, with technical slipping into djent at times, clashing with fierce melodic pieces of work.

That said there is enough dexterity in the songs to forgive a little extreme over-exuberance, with the likes of 'Depths' and immensely enjoyable closer more than making up for any quibbles. And, it is well worth digging into the lyrical thematic approaches...

Krysthla have released an album that exceeds the promise of their début album 'A War of Souls and Desires', which is to be expected given the pedigree of  members formerly from Gutworm and Deadeye.

Dig into 'Peace In Our Time' and you'll find rewards - we're currently getting frantic headbanging along to 'In Death We Shall Not Die' and expect to need neck surgery soon.

Review by Jonathan Traynor