Krux Krux

 

Origin:  Sweden

Year: 2002

Subgenre: Doom Metal

Rating:     88.13     Essential To Any Collection ! 

The Players:

Mats Leven     Vocals

Leif Edling    Bass

Jorgen Sandstrom    Guitar

Fredrik Akesson     Guitar

Peter Stjarvind     Drums

Carl Westholm     Keyboards

Formed by ex-Candlemass bassist Leif Edling in 2002, Krux was a bit of a minor supergroup that largely has flown under the radar.  Boasting members from Entombed, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Spiritual Beggars, the album is very high quality and well-produced. For fans of the horror genre, Krux fits the bill perfectly. Musically, the doom is strong here !  The vibe and subject matter is chilling, especially with those eerie keyboards thrown in. The guitars are crushingly heavy and the songs lumber along in the finest Scandinavian tradition. 

Black Room opens the album with a slow and poisonous riff that could have been lifted from the sons of Sabbath. Extremely dark and heavy !  The song Krux is more upbeat, but still bludgeons the listener into submission. Those keyboards add such an icy atmosphere. Nimis continues the dark proceedings with suicide as the main theme. Sibiria is an excellent acoustic number which produces the desired chilling effect. Omfalos uses weird background vocals and organ embedded within yet another tremendous guitar riff; beautifully dark. Enigma EZB picks up the pace a bit, producing a riff and chorus that spontaneously results in headbanging !  Popocatepetl is another frozen wasteland of pure doom, while Evel Rifaz is essentially a distorted bass solo (a bit unnecessary). The space-opera Lunochod is a very strange album closer that seems to incorporate multiple pieces; still heavy, just disjointed. Definitely interesting, trippy, and very effective. This track must be listened to in its entirety to be fully appreciated.

This debut album by Krux is simply one of the finest doom albums that no one talks about. The band would release three studio albums and a live album before calling it quits.  The guitar tone is raw and super distorted, but it's the background keyboards that add a frightening atmosphere to the entire album. Great musicianship, great production, and very interesting songwriting;  Krux kills !

Black Room     91

Krux      92

Nimis    86

Sibiria    82

Omfalos    90

Enigma EZB    89

Popocatepetl    86

Evel Rifaz     Not Rated

Lunochod     89