Craft

Fuck the Universe

Carnal Records 2005

With the disappearance of Armagedda the Swedish scene was left without my favorite of the underground black metal icons.  To fill this void my second favorite of the Swedish stalwarts has stepped up by delivering another crushing album.  Craft has once again proved why they have garnered such a buzz among the followers of "true" black metal.  a long time coming was this album but it is finally here and it was well worth the wait.  In the interim it seems that Craft has slowed down a little and developed a more groove heavy approach to their style with parallels to what Armagedda was doing at the end of their career.  I hear some reminiscent of Khold's style especially on the tracks Thorns in the Planet's Side and  According to Him.  They still have some of the faster cold songs they are famous for like Assassin 333.  Another cold one is the grating buzzsaw of a track called Xenophobia.  I feel like I was dismembered by ice with that one.  Those tracks are deadly.  Another trick they have up their sleeve this time is a thicker production more suited to this style.  It gives the grooves some bottom end making them heavier.  A prime example of this is the stomping thunder of Demonspeed which is my favorite song on the album.  The packaging is minimal as always but I guess you wouldn't expect anything more (or less) from them.  It seems a lot of bands these days are coming at you with in your face album titles.  I am not sure why this is all of a sudden or what effect it will have in the end.  Anyways that's a little off topic.  It is the music here that means everything and this is a fucking killer of an album.  Craft is quite possibly my favorite band from Sweden these days.  And they are definitely deserving of that status.  "This is the ultimate death!!!!!!!"