although their sound is obviously derived from pure holocaust-era immortal, and bears some resemblance to sacramentum - the tranquil eye in a dense storm of ecstatic cascading melodies - krallice write in a more academic, experimental fashion, eschewing the cyclic, evolving structure of black metal in favour of a general feeling of overflowing, of ideas spontaneously spilling over and each fluttering away. i'm so tired of hordes of uninspired true black metal wannabes clogging up my ears that i find myself leaping to embrace some of this hipster-approved, 'progressive' BM purely for its relative innovation, subtlety, structural complexity and ambition, and krallice may well be top of that pile in those regards. but in reality, any appeal these comparatively intellectual bands have for me seems almost accidental, as overall they're writing from a civilised place that couldn't be further removed from the magic i'm seeking.

the allure of black metal (and this applies also to fantasy literature, animé, graphic novels and other such pulp artforms) is generally dependent on its musicians lacking in... not intelligence, as such, but an awareness of/integration into the usual modes of thinking prevalent in western pop-culture. krallice are distanced from the appeal of traditional black metal because they're smart urban kids too acquainted with/indebted to the evolutionary path of popular music, incapable of escaping its shackles and seeking something genuinely strange, off-kilter or otherworldly. meanwhile, my favourite black metal records sound entirely removed from that context, written by the deranged, by aliens or barbarians or beasts, by some weird hermit living in a shack somewhere in the polish countryside.

progressives one and all: please, let me and my motley crew of retarded black metal outcasts keep our eyes focused squarely on the murky past. i'm certain there are still riches to be found...