Artist: Wald Krypta
Album: Possessed by Nothingness
Label: Eternal Death
Release Date: 27/08/2021
Country: United States & Canada
We take a look at international black metal entity Wald Krypta and their upcoming album Possessed by Nothingness, set for release this Friday 27th on Eternal Death.
The band is comprised of two members Einsam from Canada and Heresiarch from the USA. Despite being based on the continent of North America the band’s style of black metal draws inspiration from France. In particular they draw their influence from the legendary Les Légions Noires or The Black Legions. If you aren’t familiar with this group of musicians and projects, then you have some very interesting reading to do. This group included such projects as Mütiilation, Vlad Tepes, Moëvöt and Torgeist to name just a few.
Enough about French black metal though, we’re talking about North American black metal here. The band’s style is very much in the vein of raw black metal. You won’t find symphonic or melodic elements here, this is stripped back, primitive, pure black metal at its finest. The only outside influences you’ll find on this album are punk influences which you’ll pick up on some of the more rock-based rhythms that enter the mix every so often.
All of those elements that you love about raw black metal are present. You have the ceaseless buzz of the tremolo picked guitar played in that grating tone that we all know and love. There’s just enough distortion applied to give it that muddled cavernous sound but not enough to dull the edge on it. The drum work for the most part pounds like a hammer on an anvil, however at times you will find those aforementioned bouncier punk rhythms shining through. The vocals on the album are raw, shrieked and faded and really do a lot to develop the depressive and nihilistic atmosphere of the album. They are barely understandable and cut through the instrumentals with alarming potency. Despite their faded and distorted presentation they have a surprising amount of command over the listeners attention and are definitely a driving force on the release.
The band are all about rawness, nihilism and dirtiness, musically and lyrically, as well as in essence. The album makes this fact very clear. Put simply this is an ugly record full of filth and disdain for religion, humanity and life itself. The stripped-down nature of the music to it’s basic raw form is all part of this attitude. This is not supposed to be easy listening, this is supposed to evoke raw emotion within the listener and relate to something primal within them. Personally, I believe that the album achieves this goal, this call to arms. The release almost feels out of place in 2021, as if it was transported here from the late 80s or early 90s as it genuinely embodies the essence of the genre at the time.
In summary, this is the type of black metal that you see being traded in limited hand numbered cassette format by guys on the internet who call other people “posers” in social media comment sections on a daily basis. If you want raw uncompromising black metal, then I believe you have found it in Possessed by Nothingness. I know that personally I will be coming back to this album time and time again.
Listen to and order the album:
