Review by Vladimir on November 14, 2023.

In the world of modern black metal, dominated by esoteric and spiritual bands like Cult Of Fire and two Batushkas, one strong contender that also stands out is Mephorash from Sweden. During the band’s early days, they released their first two albums via Grom Records (Serbia) and their third album 1557 - Rites Of Nullification via Odium Records (Poland), but after some years they got quite a significant reputation thanks to their fourth album Shem Ha Mephorash from 2019, and due to the recorded live show that was streaming on Black Metal Promotion in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2023, the band returns with their fifth full-length album Krystl-Ah, released on November 10th via Shadow Records. Now that the band’s status is on a higher level, the real question is: does the new album manage to justify the recognition that the band got? Stay tuned to find out… 

Just like on their previous album, the band continues to push forward their esotericism through black metal, by incorporating very complex songwriting ideas that consist of traditional tremolo picking riffs, guitar melodies, clean guitar sections, harsh vocals, choir backing vocals, double-bass drumming, blast beats etc. This time it seems that the band has taken a much more grandiose approach to make their music even more epic in comparison to Shem Ha Mephorash, dominated by the frequent choir backing vocals that give their music a cinematic touch with a brilliant film score quality. Aside from the choir vocals, their complex and progressive songwriting also seems to have taken a step further to strengthen the flow of each song by conveying some form of storytelling through the music, which plays a big role next to the general atmosphere. During my listening, I always had the impression that each song is like its own chapter or as if the album is just one big collection of stories that was subtly told through the instrumental work. At times I personally felt like I was listening to an actual soundtrack rather than an album, because I didn’t feel so much like the tracks on this album were meant to be standard songs, but instead music created for a certain scene in some Hollywood movie that brings out an emotional moment or a feeling of upcoming chaos. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the band was actually heading for that kind of direction when composing the material for Krystl-Ah, considering that there are many various examples of extreme metal musicians taking notes from classical composers and even film composers as well. Like I said, the complex ideas have taken such a huge step forward that it successfully surpasses the foundation built by the predecessor Shem Ha Mephorash, and I would say that the cinematic elements are the biggest highlights of this album. Other interesting inclusions on this album that contribute something to make the overall sound and atmosphere even richer are the keyboards and piano on 'Chrysallís' and 'I Am', additional sounds like a baby’s cry on 'Gnosis', a woman’s sexual moaning on 'Soma Yoni' and church bells in 'Mephoriam'. There also seems to be some traces of psychedelic rock in their music, which is present during the first half tracks 'Gnosis' and 'Mephoriam', before continuing on with the epic second half. Production-wise, the album sounds very top notch and organic, instruments do not sound sterile or robotic which is definitely the biggest plus, while also doing a great work at pushing all the vocals forward to rightfully stand out. 

I didn’t think I would enjoy this one as much as I did, but I can say with complete certainty and confidence that the album does indeed justify the respect and recognition that Mephorash has. Krystl-Ah is definitely an album that shows a great deal of ambition and dedication, with so much blood and sweat put into the entire process to make this a worthy successor to Shem Ha Mephorash, which certainly is so. This album may not be for everyone, especially if you’re not into progressive and complex black metal of the modern era, but I personally believe that people who like very unique and extraordinary ideas in any form of extreme metal will definitely praise the overall output and appreciate it as a fine work of art. 

Rating: 9.1 out of 10

Review by Michael on June 8, 2022.

The Problem Of Evil isn't a long forgotten philosophical essay by Immanuel Kant or Thomas Hobbes but the first solo album by Kåre André Slettenberg, also known as the guitarist from In The Woods…. Stylistically very close to newer In The Woods… releases but the young Norwegian gives his six compositions a very own touch. Basically it is the riffing that reminds a lot of In The Woods but the songs are a little bit more into black metal. Starting with a very calm piano intro and some classical guitar riffing 'Frost Rite Descends' grows into a harsh yet melodic black metal track underlined with some synths to create a very gloomy atmosphere. The tempo changes from very fast intermezzos to very doomy parts during the whole song. The vocals are pretty grim most of the time and very close to some Norwegian black metal stuff back from the early 90s which also goes for the other tracks although Kåre has four different vocalists (Kjetil Nordhus (Green Carnation, Tristania), Jan Åge Lindeland (Blot), V-Rex Skåtum and himself on track 4.

'Yours To Keep (Always And Forever)' includes some riffs (check at 1:20) that we all know from In The Woods but because of the vocals this again is a more black metallic interpretation of his major band. 'This Is Goodbye' is more ballad-like (a little bit like Satyricon's “Phoenix”) which depends on the very calm melodies and the sonorous vocals. Very sad and gloomy riffs underline this very thoughtful atmosphere to go into yourself. The title track has a very surprising acoustic guitar part and some psychedelic keyboard samples and is with a running time of 10 ½ minutes the longest track on the album. Although there are again a lot of In The Woods-like melodies it is a pretty outstanding track that lives from the very smart and entertaining musical arrangements. You will not notice the long running time of this song because of the multiple facets it has. 'Lost Love' is most of the time a quite fast rocking song with some quite catchy tunes but suddenly it surprises with Kåre taking out the speed and switching to piano and some relaxing guitars. A really interesting track that (just like all the other five tracks) need to be explored and this is not possible in one or two listening sessions.

The production is done very well, when you know Kåres main band, you probably know the sound of KAS as well. So there are no really huge points to criticize The Problem Of Evil, maybe sometimes all the arrangements are a little bit too much but maybe I just was in the wrong mood to get into it that time. The first KAS album is truly a quite unknown gem that should find a lot more attention in the (black) metal scene.

Rating: 9 out of 10 Dr. Evil

Review by Michael on June 8, 2022.

The Problem Of Evil isn't a long forgotten philosophical essay by Immanuel Kant or Thomas Hobbes but the first solo album by Kåre André Slettenberg, also known as the guitarist from In The Woods…. Stylistically very close to newer In The Woods… releases but the young Norwegian gives his six compositions a very own touch. Basically it is the riffing that reminds a lot of In The Woods but the songs are a little bit more into black metal. Starting with a very calm piano intro and some classical guitar riffing 'Frost Rite Descends' grows into a harsh yet melodic black metal track underlined with some synths to create a very gloomy atmosphere. The tempo changes from very fast intermezzos to very doomy parts during the whole song. The vocals are pretty grim most of the time and very close to some Norwegian black metal stuff back from the early 90s which also goes for the other tracks although Kåre has four different vocalists (Kjetil Nordhus (Green Carnation, Tristania), Jan Åge Lindeland (Blot), V-Rex Skåtum and himself on track 4.

'Yours To Keep (Always And Forever)' includes some riffs (check at 1:20) that we all know from In The Woods but because of the vocals this again is a more black metallic interpretation of his major band. 'This Is Goodbye' is more ballad-like (a little bit like Satyricon's “Phoenix”) which depends on the very calm melodies and the sonorous vocals. Very sad and gloomy riffs underline this very thoughtful atmosphere to go into yourself. The title track has a very surprising acoustic guitar part and some psychedelic keyboard samples and is with a running time of 10 ½ minutes the longest track on the album. Although there are again a lot of In The Woods-like melodies it is a pretty outstanding track that lives from the very smart and entertaining musical arrangements. You will not notice the long running time of this song because of the multiple facets it has. 'Lost Love' is most of the time a quite fast rocking song with some quite catchy tunes but suddenly it surprises with Kåre taking out the speed and switching to piano and some relaxing guitars. A really interesting track that (just like all the other five tracks) need to be explored and this is not possible in one or two listening sessions.

The production is done very well, when you know Kåres main band, you probably know the sound of KAS as well. So there are no really huge points to criticize The Problem Of Evil, maybe sometimes all the arrangements are a little bit too much but maybe I just was in the wrong mood to get into it that time. The first KAS album is truly a quite unknown gem that should find a lot more attention in the (black) metal scene.

Rating: 9 out of 10 Dr. Evil