The first thing I have to say is what the hell happened to CRIONICS?! And it’s a damn good what the hell! The last I remember, they were trying their best to do symphonic black/death. I’d certainly say they fit into the field of black/death, and there’s a hint of the symphonic part left, but the progression from their last album to “Neuthrone” is astounding!
The death metal would come from the harsh bark, similar to Peter from VADER, or perhaps a less dimensional Nergal from BEHEMOTH. The death metal comes in the form of some tremolo picked riffs, and of course the blast beats and steady double bass pulses. The black metal comes from the form of the odd tremolo picked chord, and the subtle underlying keyboards used to sound like an orchestra. Those symphonic keyboards are hiding under there, much less pronounced than many other symphonic black metal bands. The effect of having a sudden stop before dropping into blast beat ridden chaos is very similar to something DIMMU BORGIR might do.
Those aforementioned elements sound pretty standard, but one thing that’s not standard, and it’s the fact that most of the guitar work is extremely inspired, and while they do make use of some black/death styles, it’s used just enough to make place CRIONICS in the field of black/death. After that, the guitars just become indescribably different.
The single most important thing that CRIONICS have figured out is to squeeze out every bit of music you’ve ever heard from a space movie or science fiction series from their keyboards. It gives a very strange, spaced-out, and industrial emotion. The industrial portion is more of a feeling rather than intentional on the part of the band, as there aren’t actually any industrial tricks used, such as processed vocals, or more techno styled effects.
I have to say, the album has a very intense, and very busy atmosphere going on. There’s always a lot going on, and the songs are pretty quick, and high-energy. I’ve liked a few bands from Poland, and I think that CRIONICS, along with BEHEMOTH, VADER, DECAPITATED, ATROPHIA RED SUN, VESANIA, and HATE has placed that location amongst my favorite regions along with Quebec, France and Japan.
9/10
The Official Website Of Crionics
Crionics at MySpace
Crionics at Candlelight Records
