Craft

WHITE NOISE AND BLACK METAL SEASON OF MIST MELODIC SWEDISH BLACK METALLERS DIG DEEPER INTO THE DARK

Craft have always been a close relative of Swedish Shining: just as tormented but with less of a drama queen at the helm. But unlike Niklas Kvarforth, they’re more hellbent on pure black metal aesthetics and happy to remain in the shadows. They did share one key member, lead guitarist John Doe, at some point, though, and his soaring, tasty licks – surely due to his past experience with stoners Twin Earth – are a perfect counterpoint to Craft’s more staccato riffing, especially when coupled with foot-stomping choruses, such as on Darkness Falls here. Their first album in seven years, White Noise… confirms Craft’s taste for thunderous statement with Nox’s spiteful voice as the axis. Most of the songs revolve around but him but here they’ve also tucked away the band’s few punkish leanings and added even more dissonance, resulting in a more pernicious, less immediate but more ambitious and, ultimately, more towering statement.

FOR FANS OF: SHINING, DARKTHRONE, GRUESOME