Perhaps one of my favorite underground extreme metal bands going at it far as the deathcore genre is considered is no other North Carolina’s very own Krosis. In 2018, they’ve signed to Unique Leader Records and have created their debut full-length Solem Vatem which immediately met my expectations sky high to hear such natural, organic pieces of music. Now fast forward to the new decade in 2020, we have the second offering titled A Memoir Of Free Will and is the first release to feature Mac Smith on vocals. To describe their musical sound would be a very contemporary, modernized, authentic and chaotic hybrids of melodic, progressive and traditional style of death metal.
But this release in particular reminded me so much of Fallujah’s The Harvest Wombs which was released in 2011 and truth be told, this album has elements of progressive death, technical death and even jazz compositions that are absolutely flawless start to finish. Everyone in Krosis is not only talented musically but these musicians have studied the deepest roots of music theory where a new wave of extreme metal has just begun within the broadened horizons. Part of the tracks and musical spectrum on A Memoir Of Free Will symbolizes the ever-lasting impression and artistic values seem to navigate extremely well for a underground based band like Krosis.
Even their songs contain heavy concentrates on atmosphere, progression layers of thickened mixtures and technical arrangements while micromanaging harsh singing, death metal-esque growls and occasional cleans bringing out fresh dynamics to the fore fronted table. There’s even little traces of djent in the production/mixing department of rich, heavy layered components are supplied by the more death metal influences being represented here. here. To say Solem Vatem clocks in almost an hour long, There are some good ideas and interesting riffs and soundscapes explored on this album, and it’s clear that Krosis are a band that are ambitious and have high aspirations to fully achieve and accomplish what’s given to the modern heaviness with different variations of strengths running across its playing time. I enjoyed this album particularly because they pushed themselves and start to explore what they’re capable of musically speaking. A Memoir Of Free Will is a solidarity offering that will satisfy any fans of extreme music where it pulls altogether to make the album naturalistic at finest.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Jake Butler
