Darkness soars once again for a name that shouldn’t need any introduction, and a fierce initiation for 2024 is also marked in KRVNA’s return, which offers a more concise venture through the dreaded aspects of mortality titled The Rhythmus of Death Eternal. Consisting of three epic tracks, along with two covers included on the physical format, the vastness of this EP is apparent at the onset of “Endless Monument,” where melodic forms spellbind and resound grandly across a black expanse. Their essence is echoed in tremolos when the fury takes hold, and a nightside power radiates coldly from riffs that strike like a swinging scythe. These qualities are further pronounced during mid-paced points of attack, especially as mesmeric soloing rises over the ruins, and this wizardry undoubtedly reflects the nature of one intent on seductions toward depths of eternity.
Clear notes introduce a shift in the aural bleakness on “A God’s Work,” and intricate tremolos effectively carve through the melancholy brooding among its solemn pace, where oppressive riffing also descends alongside vocals baring an undead wretchedness. The visceral energy behind these arrangements is apparent when a solo progresses with bends aligned to the rhythmic trance, and an atmospheric splendor is evoked after it unleashes a barrage of meticulous fret patterns, which then becomes compounded by the riff masses transcending into “What Great Lengths.” While previous works have centered on the atmospheric and aggressive components of KRVNA’s craft, this one seems to draw more focus toward melodicism, but the wrathful spirit is still deeply rooted within its catacombs, and here it seizes the most recognition across multiple sinister designs. Screams echo viciously around ominous chord and note harmonies, and lead elements coincide with the shift from blast beats to a pulse accommodating the riff and vocal intensity, which gathers into a formidable conjuring of blackness that definitively characterizes Death’s rhythm. Its impact is punctuated with the contrasting tones of a grandiose melodic procession, and unless you possess a version with the bonus tracks, this is where the journey arrives at its fated destination.
The epic magnitude of this collective is supplemented by those two covers, with the first being “As Astral Images Darken Reality,” of Austria’s ABIGOR, and somehow the spirit of this hymn follows naturally after the preceding three, making it a favorable choice to include here. A truly majestic end is then achieved in reviving BATHORY’s “Man of Iron,” and one notable quality is a layering of rasped vocals amid its sung verses, which forwards a harsher edge that distinguishes it from the original. Both tracks succeed in honoring the classic eminence of the originals while also revitalizing them, and they ultimately capitalize on the energy gathered during the main work.
As alluded in the title and also the cover art, which looks to portray a bed-ridden man near his end, this work focuses on the grim perceptions and sentiments toward death. “Endless Monument” personifies it as “A proud figure,” who makes itself known to one through an “Alluring melody” that begins during youth and becomes more evident over time, and the individual aware of this presence regards it as “An unwanted guest.” Its perpetuality makes avoidance futile, and the mortal has no choice but to “Become one with nothingness,” a depiction that strikes accurately while “A God’s Work” questions a supreme deity amid the macabre outcomes suffered by its devotees. Some lines are haunting in their details, including those succumbing to plagues and “Whose bodies, crippled with disease, once yearned for cure,” and this god is rightly denounced for these acts before “What Great Lengths” revisits vain attempts at avoiding the inevitable. Many verses suggest Man is capable of nearly everything except for escaping death, and the instinctive response toward its approach of “Clutching in desperation, to the chains that bound him” conveys the underlying nature of our material incarnation. An end that “Returns to dust?” inquires whether this is really it, with final thoughts left to dwell on a possible immortality, and its more cursed forms are certainly familiar to KRVNA, who has expanded his mighty influence with the substance on The Rhythmus of Death Eternal. Its arrival not only heralds a bold new year, but also affirms an ongoing promise and evolution around this dark lord that will be continually anticipated.
themisanthreport.com 