Dimensional Bleedthrough, the second album from New York metal supergroup Krallice, is the sort of record that should find favor in at least a half-dozen listening circles. Its relentless squall-- rapidfire drums, riff-and-raze guitars, and back-and-forth electric bass, plus the serrated screams of co-founder Mick Barr-- could appeal to devotees of classic black metal bands Burzum, Immortal, and Emperor. The distended shapes Krallice's pummel takes might work for fans of U.S. black metal marathon men Wolves in the Throne Room. Or for those who get lost in the massed guitar works of Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca or in the overtone hysteria of composers like La Monte Young, "Untitled" flits around one note. Darkly radiant and completely mesmerizing, those eight minutes of drumless glow feel like a musical cocoon, an alternate version of Barr's work on Orthrelm's OV. And for noiseniks, there are harsh, finessed impasses, too, like the prelude to "Aridity", where feedback and split octaves howl and groan.
What's more, Barr and Colin Martson (Dysrhythmia, Behold... the Arctopus), comprise a fairly infallible guitar duo. Their playing here is as complex as it is controlled and deliberate. Sidewinding riffs and rapidfire progressions scream above the dense rhythm section. Dimensional Bleedthrough's seven pieces twist and halt, lurch and sprint, shifting rhythms and directions without warning. It seems like a shoo-in as a new favorite for prog and math-rock zealots. And, for those living for death metal, there's "The Mountain". At three minutes and 14 seconds, it's the album's shortest track by nearly a third and its most direct by a mile. Bassist Nick McMaster takes the vocals this time, spitting the words above a brutal churn, his deep, irascible bellow recalling Suffocation and Cryptopsy.
Whereas Krallice thrive at a rarified intersection of death and black metal, noise abandon and prog precision, pedestrian grit and academic commitment, it seems a lot of listeners might be afraid-- or too territorial-- to follow. At times, it seems too mathematical for metal kids, too tough for the avant-garde set, and too oriented for the noise dudes. It eschews those pretty passages that have long been Wolves in the Throne Room's popular bait, and it's certainly not setting out to terrify, either.
Forget all of that, though, and keep listening-- closely. Dimensional Bleedthrough isn't and doesn't aim to be a headphones masterpiece. Its 77 minutes are almost uniformly brutal, and digesting it at such close proximity is bound to fatigue. But it is arranged and engineered to offer more than the benchmarks of second-wave black metal, or even the shock-and-tone tactics of a lot of noise and industrial acts. Notice the way the guitars pull against each other within the first two minutes of the splendid title track, tugging each other through the riff's hairpin turns, or how one guitar veers into a skuzzy, distorted counter to introduce Barr's vocals nearly four minutes in. Or listen for the way the progression of "Autochton" slides with Barr's growled glissando, especially in the first minute. It's those details-- and, of course, Krallice's gargantuan sound-- that make Dimensional Bleedthrough bigger and better than most other metal hybrids around.
