Album Review: Krokodil - 'Nachash'

21 November 2014 | 3:49 pm | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

A heavy metal crossover that manages to break the rules successfully.

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Supergroups are known to be dangerous territory. Now, we have yet another group, Krokodil. This one featuring members of Cry For Silence, Hexes, Gallows and SikTh. With debut album, ‘Nachash’ we certainly have an interesting formation.

This first-up offering is what we might expect from a metal album. It's loud, heavy and aggressive but these guys have stepped it up a notch and try to bend the rules. Opening track, ‘Shatter’ is appropriately titled as straight away it shatters our expectations. With a solid distorted guitar intro and some prominent groove and hooks, the band gets the album off to a promising start.

'Sun Riders' is a a sludgy affair that has guest appearances from another big name, Simon Neil from Biffy Clyro. The ferocious nature of Krokodil’s vocals mixed with those of Clyro make this track stand out and push the envelope in a successful manner.

The album mixes it up all the way through from its melodic and beautiful instrumentals in 'Porcelain Bones', which totally capture the listener, to its typical thrashy metal sounds on tracks like ‘Ragnarock’ that leave you unable to resist the urge to headbang along. Krokodil have evidently put in a lot of work into trying to create something that is both classically metal but equally pushes the boundaries. If it doesn't hit it out of the park, it goes close.

Including everything from groove to sludge and post-metal, Krokodil have managed to make this work in their favour. They still have elements to tweak but, for their first effort, this album ticks all the boxes.

'Nachash' is a record that has all the brutality and thrashing that comes along with metal, while still managing to create contrast. Krokodil have managed to take all the collective members different sounds and influences to create something ideal.

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  1. Shatter
  2. Skin Of The Earth
  3. Dead Man’s Path
  4. A Life Lived In Copper, But Painted In Gold
  5. Reptilia Familiar
  6. Porcelain Bones
  7. The Collapse
  8. Sleep Well, Medusa
  9. Ragnarock
  10. Sun Riders
  11. Sobek
  12. Phyllotaxis