Band:	Krallice
Album:	Dimensional Bleedthrough
Style:	Avantgarde black metal
Release date:	November 2009

01. Dimensional Bleedthrough
02. Autocthon
03. Aridity
04. The Mountain
05. Intraum
06. (untitled)
07. Monolith Of Possession

2008 saw scene-renowned New York musicians Mick Barr and Colin Marston form Krallice as a vehicle to explore the black metal aesthetic through their lens. Despite "Hipster!" cries from self-appointed tr00 police, their self-titled initial release was certainly interesting and intriguing. 2009 saw the band release their follow-up, Dimensional Bleedthrough.

Rather than a suffer a sophomore slump, Krallice instead showed a bit of a sophomore jump.

Dimensional Bleedthrough sees the band continuing along with an approach that is similar to other USBM stalwarts such as Wolves In The Throne Room and Weakling - tremolo picked riffs that build an atmosphere, then extending that out into long, "epic" length tracks.

What makes Krallice stand apart from rather than in the shadow of their fellow American black metallers is their approach still harkens back to their more exploratory, musically unconventional origins. There is a little more going on in the riffing? the guitars and bass (actually very audible!) roam around a bit, but all tethered to the central theme. It's not twin guitars duplicating a riff, or one just duplicating it elsewhere on the fretboard, it's two distinct approaches combined into one loosely coordinated whole.

At times the attack really works and is quite amazing, whereas at other times - here and there, as in one of the recurring riffs on the title track - it feels a tad odd or even awkward, almost like a black metal interpretation of a riff found in an extended jam by neo-hippies Phish. (That's hippies, not hipsters. Don't get them confused.)

At other times, the almost proggy tremolo note riffs are replaced just by an ambient wall of sound approach incorporating feedback, distortion, and lots of space, as in the epic "Monolith Of Possession."

The vocals, duties split between the screech of Mick Barr and the deeper growl of bassist Nick McMaster, appear sparsely? most of the album is simply dedicated to the atmosphere developed by the music itself.

I liked the album on first listen, not so much as their self titled first release. However, as I've subjected myself repeatedly to it over the course of plotting and formulating this review, I've found it's continued to grow on me a bit with each listen. I prefer it to their initial offering, and i thoroughly enjoy it, tr00 police be damned.