Review by Arek on January 8, 2017.

Founded in 2012, Crator consists of four Americans, which rather don’t need to be introduced in the metal community. Each of them possesses many musical episodes (Origin, Gorguts, Angelcorpse, Skinless...) in their dossier. The Ones Who Create: The Ones Who Destroy is their debut album, but it's the debut with a capital D! The production and release of the album have been done by the band themselves, and so let's roll...

In this modestly humble digipak they’ve packed 9 pieces of sharp, technical death metal brazenly cutting hearing organs for a little less than 39 minutes. Not enough? It is more than plenty, believe you me! Thanks to the yearning that emerges after the first listening of this album, one is eager to return to such records; and each subsequent hearing of it saturates new senses. Death metal wall of sound built by the Americans was not filled with blood-red-brick only. There's a lot of black in it, and it penetrates guitars and sometimes vocals of Jason Keyser. I will not go into raptures on the musical skills of individual musicians, because words are superfluous here. Each instrument is clearly audible, which Colin Marston himself took care of, and the first listen in will certify it promptly.

Moreover, it is not the technical skills that determine the grandeur of the album. The idea is most important, but ability can facilitate or hinder its creation. There was an idea on The Ones Who ..., and technology did not interfere with the creators, therefore listening to percussion barrages, bass orgies and guitar madness is pure pleasure. Vocals are also multicolored, from black metal screams, through growling, to the grind roars. The album is dominated by a pace that’s fast and very fast, but that does not mean that we won’t find anything slow. With the pieces such as the title - 'The Ones Who Create, The Ones...' and 'The Echo Voice That Conquers' the album is complete. Just don’t expect death metal rolls or melodic skips. You will not find those here. Each breakdown is preceded and finished by serious thumping, and the best way to find the melody is to keep listening.

I wish there was more such debuts, but not literally, because who needs copies of Crator. Death metal served by this quartet is certainly not easy to take, but once you break certain barriers, savoring of it may never end. Remembering a review of Krakow Dormant Ordeal I see some similarities, but the material created by Crator has a tad more benefits. Is death metal dead as its name suggests??? Crator and I firmly say NO! to such blasphemous gossip.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Felix on December 7, 2020.

A melodic fragment with an oriental touch opens the one-track-release of Balmog. (I like this one-song-releases, because they make it impossible to fall into the track-by-track trap...) The first tones create a mysterious aura and mark a promising start. Balmog makes their ambitions public – such an excessive configuration indicates that they wanted to write their once-in-a-lifetime monument. Unfortunately, Pest’s “Daudafᴂrd” has set the incredibly high benchmark – not to forget Venom’s progressive masterpiece “At War with Satan”. Pillars of Salt does not reach the same level of excitement, density and insistence. Nevertheless, it’s a great track. Maybe there is a little bit too much mid-harsh Watain in it, but Balmog have found a strong mix between stormy outbursts and a surprisingly high number of atmospheric parts. Don’t fear to be confronted with an ambient release, the experienced Spanish three-piece did not forget to integrate the metallic fundament. It’s just a song that tries to cover as many aspects and moods of black metal as possible.

Another ingredient the band took care of is dynamic. Pillars of Salt avoids boredom successfully by varying the tempo, the intensity and the degree of harshness. The vocals, for example, offer demonic sounds, lamenting sequences, liberated clean singing and ominous speeches. With a modicum more brilliance concerning the song-writing, this stand-alone-piece would be a true majestic masterpiece. Its configuration of more than 18 minutes is a bit too excessive from my point of view, but at the end of the day, I don’t want to cry about such details. Balmog shows their authenticity, Pillars of Salt conveys the spirit of black metal and if you don’t like this track and the great artwork you probably don’t like black metal in all its facets as well.

Rating: 8 out of 10