French Black-Metal of the intriguing type - that’s what you will get when listening to KRV.
Surprises come to those who can wait. Sometimes you must overcome an obstacle before you are being rewarded with something worthwhile. Both can be said about the debut record of KRV. The band is based in Paris, just like their label Chien Noir. Nicolas Zivkovich, the mastermind behind the KRV, is Serbian and he sings his vocals in French, English and Serbian (surprise number one) although you can hardly tell which language he is screaming in your face.
When Zivkovich opened up to his now-bandmate Louis Lambert about his idea for a shared project he already had everything laid out before his inner eye and had even written the lyrics but he needed someone to help him with the music. So Louis set about to work and knit it all together very nicely. Performing on stage, however, demands the addition of a drummer and a bassist – on record, Louis plays all the instruments with Nicolas taking over the vocals.
Interesting about this record is the moment when you realize that this is a bit more than the common black metal band doing a mix of American Black Metal and some Scandinavian variant. At first you do not notice it without good headphones, but there is something about the sound of the band that has a very distinctive industrial feel to it (surprise two); something like blasting Killing Joke or shredding Godflesh. Another good comparison that comes to mind is Borgne, who also weave a lot of electronics into their black metal corset. All of that makes for a somewhat unique feel as we witness industrialized black metal at its warmest. Sounds strange? Then listen to the break in the first track “Motherless Abyss” after roughly four minutes: The drums not only slow down but bring forth their somewhat clean industrial beat and connect a very earthy momentum that is a mixture of chain-gangs dragging along their ball-and-chains and the sound of a pick hitting stone. This industrial notion is taking up again at the overlapping between the first two songs with a sound of a minor alert inside of a submarine.
Now one might ask what all of this has to do with the need to wait for something good to come. Well, sometimes the youthful furor is a bit too much and too one-sided; the listener can sometimes see too far ahead so that the dynamics lack a bit. But whenever KRV take their time and stretch the songs across the 6-minute-mark, they have something interesting to show. If they focus a bit more on the song structures and tempi changes while still keeping the interesting sound base, then they will be an ever stronger surprise for a broader audience. For you, my cherished readers – you can now search for surprise number three. A little hint: check for some heavy post-rock solo guitar within track four “Hécatombe”. Or for the intimate and highly atmospheric chant in track five, the interlude “Open your Temple Unto Him”. However, never forget: wait for it.
