Krig – Narcissistic Mechanism

Posted by Christian St John in Music, Stuff | 0 comments

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Brazilian Death Metal merchants Krig and asked if I would review their latest album Narcissistic Mechanism. So here goes:

There has been a lot of discussion over the years at to whether the music genre Metal has a place in Christendom. Books have been written discrediting the validity of Christian Rock/Metal and many preachers and teachers have openly stood up against this genre of music saying that it was born of the devil and will always belong to the devil.

To that I would simply say, Pish Posh! I have background in this style of music and as such I sit firmly on the side of the fence that favors the use of a music style that is typically synonymous with bad boys, satanic lyrics, leather, women, and of course pounding drums, shredding and crunching guitars, and either high pitched or low growl vocals. The only difference is I tend to only listen to or play Metal that comes in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – minus the bad boy, satanic, womanizing stuff of course.

The cover artwork (above) is standard fare for this type of release, featuring fire and a skull (maybe the idea behind it is a heaven and hell type thing), so no surprises there, but it does give an indication as to what’s in store for the listener. Musically Narcissistic Mechanisms is brutal. Let me restate that… BRUTAL! What’s on offer here is heavy (always a good thing for Heavy Metal), doom laden, technical, fast, and brutal… did I say that already? And fans of this style of music are going to love every minute of it!

Before they contacted me I had not heard of Krig and this surprised me as this is their fourth studio album and they are very good at what they do; namely torture their instruments to get some of the heaviest sounding Metal I have ever heard. Vocally there’s not a single instance of singing in sight. Instead the aptly named vocalist/ growler, Daniel Corpse, unleashes a barrage of unearthly guttural sounds reminiscent of something you would usually find in a horror movie.

But all is well – Lyrically the album is Christ centered, although you may have to read between the lines on a couple of tracks; the lyrics are typically dark and doomy, but in a pro-faith way. Not once did I feel like I was being sideswiped by a band unsure of its faith; it’s far easier for bands of this genre to play for the dark side to gain a following and sell CD’s, so my hats off to the members of Krig for standing for what they believe in (also this refutes any argument that they are in it for the money and the fame).

“The Lord had His torn flesh, The Lord was nailed to the cross, His blood was shed”
from the song Dilacerated

Standout tracks on this album are Mankind Dead Remains ( remember it’s a Death Metal album ), Not Being Hypocrite, and the title track Narcissistic Mechanism, all of which had more of a thrash feel to them instead of being flat out Death Metal. I’m not the biggest Death Metal fan and prefer my Metal well seasoned with high octane guitars and vocals more in the style of Rob Rock and Narnia. So this CD is not one I would have gone out and bought, but I know that there are plenty of Death Metal fans out there just looking for something like this.

Like I said above, Krig are good at what they do and I can appreciate the effort that went into writing and recorded this album. It’s brutal stuff and I have no doubt that it would stand up to any of the secular Death Metal out there. So maybe if you have family and friends listening to stuff like Bolt Thrower, Carcass, Death, and the like, then maybe this would be a good purchase for them. The truth is you may not like stuff like this, but someone into this style of music is probably not going to choose to listen to Hillsong or Michael W Smith anytime soon. So this is a good alternative to all the secular satanic Death Metal out there.

The way I see it is like this – Christian bands and artists of any genre are literally fighting fire with an even greater fire, trying to reach listeners where they are, going to them and exposing the truth of Jesus Christ to them. And Krig are doing just that.

Rockin’ for the Rock!
Chris
March 2010