Klogr: Keystone

Since their 2011 debut Till You Decay, Klogr (pronounced Kay-Log-Are) have worked damn hard to get there musical message across, a live album, a live DVD, two EPs and now their third full length release all tumbling forth in the ensuing six years. Whether that workload has simply been too much for some to keep up with, they've also parted company with eight band members along the way, while also having a completely different live line-up during 2012. In fact since 2014's Black Snow album - which upped the band's heavy, slightly progressive, slightly industrial, metal mix quite considerably - they've refreshed almost their entire line-up. Rotating around ever present vocalist and guitarist Gabriele "Rusty" Rustichelli, the band is now completed by Rob Galli on bass and Miacol Morgotti on drums, while second guitarist Pietro Quilichini is their second longest server, having joined late in 2014.

What hasn't changed however is the earnest approach the band favour, Rusty more of a shout in tune sort of singer, while his band's attack of hit hard and retreat to short, more restrained moments, is also still the order of the day. There's no doubt they do it well, but revisits to the band's previous releases prove them to have not aged as well as they might and unfortunately, the more time you spend with Keystone, the more the same aspect comes to the fore. Initially hard hitting themes and constructions losing their impetus the more you hear them. Strangely though, initial contact with the likes of "Pride Before The Fall", or "Dark Tides" possibly offers a deeper look into the heart of what Klogr are capable of, meaty rhythms thundering under a variety of uncompromising guises. There's also no doubt that Rusty is invested in his words, a glance at an unhappy world unfurling through words that are sometimes obvious and sometimes more opaque.

One way or another there's no escaping how earnest everything that Klogr do can become. No sideways glances, very few sparkles of light offered amongst the aggressive gloom and little promise of deliverance from the dense, dark world Keystone resides in. In the right frame of mind that can make "The Wall Of Illusion" a thoroughly believable destination, or "The Echoes Of Sin" to emit ever reverberating calls to the cause. Yet, even with that in mind, the more you try to spend time in this world, the more illusive any hoped for conclusions become. Nothing on Keystone is less than well crafted and cared for metallic, shimmering anger. Yet experienced as it should be - from start to finish - the effect becomes ever more lost in the effort to reveal the album's true identity.

Track Listing
1. Sleeping Through the Seasons
2. Prison of Light
3. Technocracy
4. The Echoes of Sin
5. Pride before the Fall
6. Something's in the Air
7. Drag You Back
8. Sirens' Song
9. Dark Tides
10. Silent Witness
11. Enigmatic Smile
12. The Wall of Illusion

Added: October 6th 2017
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Klogr online
Hits: 1278
Language: english

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