| February 19, 2012 - KROKMITĖN - New track BWV565 Redux nearly completed. | |
“BWV565 Redux”, a new track from Montréal’s experimental death metallers KROKMITËN is nearly completed and will be available on the second quarter of 2012. Fans who are registered on the band’s official website www.krokmiten.com will be able to download the track a week prior to everyone else. An email will be sent when the track is made available for registered fans. Also available will be a full uncompressed high-resolution version of the track in 96kHz/24bit.
Also known as “Toccata & Fugue in D minor, BWV 565”, a classical piece of organ music attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach circa 1703. “BWV565 Redux” is KROKMITËN’s take on Bach’s near 10-Minute piece.
“Dubg (guitar) brought the idea and the arrangements for 7-String guitars of the original organ work. Since I’m not that big classical music buff, my main goal was to “Krokmitënize” the work and make it our own. I think we achieved just that!” states Simlev, KROKMITËN’s frontman.
“This piece is quite challenging and fun, it has been written for an organ played with hands and feet, lots of part require fingers acrobatics when arranged for the guitar. I wanted to respect the original score as much as possible and stay away from the cliché of hair guitar meets classical stuff (without naming those who we love to hate). The inherent heaviness and apocalyptic shades of this work were very well suited for KROKMITËN” says Dubg (guitar).
The recording lineup on "BWV565 Redux" incudes: Dubg (guitars, bass), Simlev (vocals, guitars), and Mathz (drums). The recording, mixing and mastering has been done at EXPAZ Studio in Montréal by Guy Dubuisson and was produced by KROKMITËN.
KROKMITËN is an experimental Death Metal band from Montréal founded in 1991. After two demos and years of local gigs, they took a lengthy hiatus in 1995 to concentrate on their respective careers. In 2005, they regrouped to work on this ambitious critically-acclaimed multimedia project "Alpha-Beta" a 46-minute track with animation synced to the music available in its entirety for free on the band's website www.krokmiten.com.
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| January 11, 2012 - KROKMITĖN - Simlev Interviewed by Death Metal Baboon | |
Source: deathmetalbaboon.com
Site: Death Metal Baboon
Date: January 11th 2012
Author: Niek
After we reviewed Krokmitën’s 46-minute one-shot of Experimental Death Metal, Alpha-Beta, last week, it seemed like a good idea to shoot some questions over to the band and get some clarification on this very conceptual and freaky-as-fuck album from them. Turns out that when we hooked up with Simlev, guitarist, vocalist, main writer and main man, it wasn’t a good idea, but a great idea. To understand Alpha Beta you need to get back into the band’s history. And that’s precisely what we’ve extensively done. Though we haven’t forgotten the future either.
Honestly, this was one of the most pleasant and insightful interviews I’ve undertaken to date. Thanks to Simlev for spilling his guts and giving us an awesome interview!
DMB: You guys started out way back in 1991. Can you elaborate a bit on the how, the time, the place?
Simlev: We started as a Thrash Metal band playing various covers in the Montreal area. We got tired very quickly of playing covers and we wanted to write our own songs right away. The original line-up was formed through friends of friends. After we recorded the two first demo tapes, I wanted to get our music much heavier and intricate but some members in the band wanted to smooth things out or stay in Thrash. At some point I just got tired of pushing others and lost interest. Thrash Metal started to stagnate and I wanted to evolve from it. Actually there’s not much to be said about our early years. It was pretty uneventful. That’s why we kept the biography short on our site.
DMB: In 1995 Krokmitën started on, what you could call, a bit of a hiatus. Only after ten years did you put the band back together to work on Alpha Beta. Did you always know it was going to be a break or did you actually mean to close down the band for good in 1995? And two, did you just completely put music to rest in the ten years or have you continued playing, be it unofficially, in the meantime?
Simlev: We never really called it quit or officially quit. I knew I would eventually return to it. I just didn’t know how and when. I have always been the main songwriter, so when each member went his own way, Krokmitën stayed with me. During those ten years, I kept playing and accumulating riffs and ideas. Mathz joined various local bands, he never really put the sticks down in the meantime, and once in a while we would jam together because I wanted to try out some of my riffs with him. I haven’t spoken with the two others much since. My understanding was that they were done with it. In general, I’m a pretty intense person, I have a clear vision of what I want Krokmitën to be, I’m open to suggestions but I guess I’ve got some sort of veto over everything concerning the band. I guess that can rub some people off the wrong way. For some odd reason Mathz sticks with me and seems to be unaffected by this.
DMB: How did you go about returning the band to form in 2005. You had stayed in touch with Mathz over the years, but what about Dubg?
Simlev: Mathz met Dubg around 1999, since Dubg was playing the guitar they quickly became friends and start jamming together for fun once in a while. Mathz felt that we would get along pretty well and introduced us, I remember that the first songs we jammed together were Death’s Lack of Comprehension and Metallica’s …And Justice for All. We all jammed together once in a while after that first time, but we never talked about rebooting Krokmitën at that time. None of us really had the time to concentrate on it anyway. When I officially restarted Krokmitën in 2005 it was just Mathz and me. Dubg was busy with work. When it was time to mix the album Dubg stepped in to mix it. We felt we needed to add some 7-string guitar parts and solos to the album, Dubg offered to do them and that’s how he joined the band officially. We are both bordering obsessive-compulsive about details. Mathz was right; we fit very well together.
DMB: It also sounds like the two of you could easily get into conflicts about such details. Does that ever happen?
Simlev: Hahaha no, well so far no. Without being a doormat, Dubg is very respectful of my vision. He cares about details that I don’t really focus on and vice-versa. He’s very picky about the production and I’ve very picky about the lyrical content and the overall artistic vision. He’s much more technical than me guitar-wise, while I’m more instinctive. I’ve got a very crazy intense personality and he’s very easy going. Maybe I could get on his nerves sometimes but I like to believe that I’m smart enough to back the fuck down when I push too far. He’s a very smart guy and his insanity managed to adapt very well to my mine. So far so good!
DMB: The motivation you indicate for shutting down in ’95 was that each of you wanted to focus on your careers. What do a bunch of bad ass Metalheads do for a career?
Simlev: I’m a freelance art director / graphic designer, I’ve worked for major companies in Montreal before I became a freelancer. Mathz is this bad ass certified engineer in a major company that makes water pumps and filtering system, he manages a big engineering team. Dubg is a sound engineer / composer and programmer. If you translate that to music, you can certainly understand our music and video better. Together we are a production powerhouse.
DMB: Still, you’re only three people. Do you ever feel limited in what you can do with just three people and so three instruments? What do you do with bass for example?
Simlev: So far no, we don’t feel limited in the studio. On the album I played the bass. At some point we might need to find a bassist, a hired gun or a full-fledge member, for now this is still up in the air. For the next album Dubg and I will probably take care of it.
DMB: Alpha Beta then. For a song, it’s long. Very long! What made you go for such a lengthy motherfucker and was it the intent from the very start?
Simlev: During this ten-year hiatus I kept writing riffs. Those riffs all had the same root. I felt that many of my riffs were meant for the same song but I had too much material for a standard 5-6 minutes songs. When I started to clean up my shit in 2005 to make Alpha-Beta I noticed that my riffs felt like they all belonged together. I didn’t want to split them into different songs just for the sake of it. One long song was the best solution for what I had. I’m very influenced by movies. The album structure is based on a movie structure, with introduction, confrontation, climax and conclusion. If you think the album is long, too long, be happy that I chopped about fifteen minutes out of it! I had enough material to write three times that length.
DMB: Conceptually it’s strong, about a man or subject going apeshit and discovering all kinds of shit about himself, at least that’s what I grabbed. But obviously the exact meaning still eludes me. Can you explain what it’s really all about and what the track’s title means?
Simlev: I’m a big David Lynch fan. I love that his movies can be interpreted in various ways. This is somewhat similar. When I wrote it all, it made a lot of sense to me. Now with time I personally see different meanings that I didn’t even realize at the time. There are many symbolic elements that can trigger various things for different people. If you want an oversimplified answer, it’s the scientific creation of the antichrist. If I was to explain every chapter title, you’d need to sit down with me for two days while I go apeshit and rant about the entire world, human behaviors and whatnot. I don’t think you could get a precise answer out of me on this one. Even Mathz and Dubg can’t get a straight answer on this one.
DMB: Plenty of meaning then, but each pulls out what he wants. Is that a given for you, that music should have meaning distilled from it, or would you be open to making something less conceptual someday. You know, twelve three-and-a-half (or five or six if you please) minute songs with a standard structure of intro, verse, chorus, verse, verse, chorus, chorus, bridge, chorus, outro or something?
Simlev: We might someday write something less conceptual or not at all, but for now my global vision is very conceptual. I’m not that much interested by standard song structures. I like bands that do it, but it’s not the best approach for Krokmitën. We might release stand-alone songs from time to time when we feel like it but I love conceptual albums in general. I’m not a big fan of hit singles, I love when the songs in an album are united together by theme or concept. Since our music will always be free we can release stuff whenever we feel like. I have a home-studio at my house and Dubg runs a professional studio, so we can do what the hell we want, when we want. The only limit is time.
DMB: The inevitable and ever-returning question then: what’s next? Another ten-year hiatus or have you been working on ideas for future material yet?
Simlev: No more hiatus! I have a lot of riffs I didn’t use for Alpha-Beta. I have stuff in the early demos I plan to use and give a different twist. And after we recorded Alpha-Beta I kept writing riffs. So I have already a lot of stuff to work with. Dubg has some great riffs too. This time Dubg will be integrated into the songwriting. We already have a good part of the musical concept established. We recently started to make demos. I have many lyrics already written. The whole concept and vision is already clear in my mind. I need to clean this mess up and make something concrete with it with the others. Also, we are currently working on a little special something that Dubg brought to the table. Some kind of an in-between project to make the wait for the next album easier for the fans. If everything goes well this thing should be released this winter.
DMB: An EP then? Will it be a one-song wonder again or will you take a more traditional approach this time? Talking about both the next full-length and the in-between?
Simlev: The in-between will be one track around ten minutes long. I don’t want to reveal too much at this point, we want to keep it a surprise. You’ll know in a couple of months when we’ll release it. As for the next album, at first I thought of making it four +/- twelve-minute tracks, but now that I’m deeper into the songwriting and the building of the structure, I feel like it’s going to be, again, one long track clocking in at forty minutes, at least.
DMB: We would like to thank Simlev once again, for his time, his effort and an awesome interview all together!
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| December 28, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - "Alpha-Beta" review on Death Metal Baboon | |
Source: deathmetalbaboon.com
Site: Death Metal Baboon
Date: December 28th 2011
Author: Niek
Rating: 80%
In August, a Canadian band named Krokmitën released a 46-minute album they had worked on since 2005. Though a long time to cover just one record, it isn’t abnormal and wouldn’t have dropped my jaw. What did is the fact that this album is really just one ”song” and actually more than that. Because in addition to 46 minutes of Old-school-type Experimental Death Metal, the album features professionally made but freaky-as-fuck animations alongside.
Alpha-Beta is like an experience, I found, similar to a movie or play, even so when just listening to the music without the animations. In fact, that’s how I listened to the release the first four or five times and I can tell you that it’ll still achieve that effect that way.
We’ve got the full 46-minute bloodsucker streaming down below – in four pieces, because it’s too lengthy for YouTube – but you can also go to the band’s home page to download the full thing freely and legally.
Before we head into music however, first a bit about the band. Krokmitën is a three-piece from Montréal, Canada and originally formed in 1991. Their name is a Cajun phonetic spelling of the French word ”croquet-mitaine”, which loosely translates to ”boogeyman”. After a few years of local work, the band was put on hold so the members could concentrate on their respective careers. Ten years later, in 2005, the group reformed and started work on Alpha-Beta.
Alpha-Beta is self-released and purposely so. This wasn’t a matter of being unable to find a label to work with. Instead, guitarist and vocalist Simlev explains: “As the music industry struggles, it was out of question from the start to approach a label with this project. They’ve fucked with people for so long, they pretty much get what they deserve. So we’ve decided to produce it ourselves and take the independant route. Releasing it for free is very important to us.” (That doesn’t mean you can’t pay for a physical copy if you want to though, just go to above mentioned home page.)
Anyfuck, the music. Alpha-Beta is the album, the song, the concept, the experience. It’s intended to be listened to in one go and that’s exactly what I’ve done several times over the past few days. Initially it was a bit of a hard nut to crack. Not that it’s so incredibly brutal or acid, but because it’s rather psychedelic. In fact, it’s bat shit crazy. Something you need to learn to understand.
Eventually Alpha-Beta started to make sense and uncover its virtues and intelligent content. There are many different elements, from electronic atmospherics to symphonics to no-nonsense crunching riffage to Sludge-like moments of bad tripping. Over the course of 46 minutes the album offers an incredibly range of moods, settings and images, inducing streams, maelstroms of uncontrolled thoughts. Today I found out that the animations that are meant to be played alongside actually offer the perfect way to channel all that thought energy set loose.
It’ll make clear that Alpha-Beta is divided into a bunch of chapters, illogically numbered, and telling a story of a man. A story I couldn’t or wouldn’t reproduce here, but which you’ll just have to discover yourself.
Though superbly functioning on a holistic level, inevitably there are moments on the record where things tend to get a bit boring. Strangely enough these are not moments where the music calms down, but moments in which riffs pick up speed and aggression. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes they seem to get stuck in a frenzy without point or end and I lose focus.
In the end I think this might just be too much for most Metal fans. Separate from the fact that not each of the 46 minutes offers an equally interesting experience, having just one song also means that there’s no (convenient) way to skip those or replay the bits you dig more. That’s all part of the deal. If you’re one of those listeners after a quick thrill, a lot of repetition and catchiness, this is definitely not for you. Just do know that you’re missing something that’s conceptually unendingly strong.
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| December 26, 2011 - Signed CD contest | |
We have two physical copies of the album "alpha-beta" signed by each band member for you to win.
(Edit) Once we reach 50 registered fans with 1 comment each, we'll randomly pick a winner. Once we reach 100 registered fans with 1 comment each, we'll randomly pick an other winner.
FOLLOW THOSE TWO SIMPLE STEPS TO ENTER THE CONTEST AND BE ELIGIBLE:
1-Become a krokmitën fan
Register on our site and join our mailing list. It's simple and free!
Register here.
2-Post a comment
We love to get feedback about our music. If you haven't already downloaded the album, do it now and post your impression of "alpha-beta" in our guestbook.
Post Comment
RULES AND CONTEST TERMS
A- Anyone can participate in any country
We'll ship it to Zimbabwe if that's where you live.
B- Follow us
Join us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or myspace to find out who won.
C- Snail Mail confirmation
The winners will be personally contacted via email to request your mailing address so we can mail you your prize.
You will have 72 hours to reply with your name and postal address or we will pick and other winner.
D- Only one entry per person.
Multiple entries will be disqualified. We know how to figure this out.
E - Good luck to everyone!
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| December 25, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - Simlev Interviewed by Violent Solutions Webzine | |
Source: vs-webzine.com (in french)
Site: Violent Solutions
Date: November 15th 2011
Author: Dungorpat
Violent Solutions Interviews Krokmitën
Note: Here's an interview we had translated in english from french, for your convenience. It's obviously very difficult to translate opinions without altering the ideas. In order to keep the meanings as much as possible, reading fluidity might be a little off. So bare with us here!
In the age of multimedia, as technology is becoming more accessible to anyone, few bands are trying to mix music and video, and even less in extreme metal. Canadians KROKMITËN attempted just that. After the review of their debut album available in these pages we discussed with their leader, Simlev.
1- Hi! I just found out about your album "Alpha-Beta", released this summer, but you are not new on the scene. So back to your story: you exist since 1991 but split four years later to return in 2005. What style were you playing at the time, why this separation and how did you get reunited?
Hello Dungorpat! At the time we were doing Thrash Metal on the edge of Death Metal. We were progressing to Death, but the band broke up at that time. I think when you play metal, there is only one logical evolution, heavier. Otherwise you have to change the band's name or make a side-project. I hate it when my favorite bands soften. I always wrote the base of the material myself and made the arrangements with the group. At some point, it became increasingly difficult for me to push more brutal material to certain members of the band.
We were very young then, barely out of school. Everyone started to focus on his own career outside the music and it became increasingly difficult to see each other for rehearsals. The group never really broke up, I rather shelved it to concentrate on my career as a multimedia designer, which took most of my time. But I always had the desire behind the back of my head to get back to it. Years have passed but I was still scratching my guitar from time to time. Over time I accumulated lots of riffs and the concept began to take shape and haunt me to the point where I had to put myself to work seriously for my own sanity.
Meanwhile I've always kept in touch with Mathz, the drummer. We are good friends. He is now an engineer and didn't really have the time for Krokmitën back then. The other two, I have not seen them for at least 10 years. Mathz always knew that I intended one day to restart Krokmitën, he knew that one day I would come with new material, he was only waiting for me. When I told him I was ready to revive the band, he was very happy.
Mathz introduced me to Dubg and me jammed for fun. We discussed a possible involvement with him early in the project but he was taken elsewhere. He gave us a hand for the sound halfway into the project. Finally last year we decided to finish this together in his studio. As he worked on the mix he added guitars throughout the album and became a full member of the band.
2- Your bio seems to indicate that you had a multimedia album projecthad in mind when you reactivated the band, is it the case?
More or less. The concept began to take shape in 2005. I didn"t really know what would happen. In fact, the end goal of the operation was first to get those riffs that were haunting me out of my head. The multimedia concept came gradually afterward.
3- "Alpha-Beta" is an album to share since both concept album audio but also short film, available in both formats. Did you have a clear idea on how you wanted to proceed, or the project turned up like this little by little, an animated sequence inspiring a musical passage and vice versa?
In fact, Alpha-Beta started with music first. The goal of the project was primarily just a big audio experiment. Initially I wanted to do an album in 5.1 surround on DVD. A DVD has the advantage of visuals. At first I designed a series of still images that unfolded like a slideshow. Just to have something in the background. I added text to the screen to help me visualize the concept and to build the story. Once the text was on screen, I quickly found out that it was not enough for my taste. I then started to animate a few scenes for the pleasure of doing some video editing and learn some softwares, which were starting to be very useful for my multimedia contracts. Over time, many ideas came to me, I began to make more animations on more sequences as the concept evolved.
4- You play some experimental Death Metal that is both very brutal at times but also very rich in atmosphere. Do you think a lot about the balance between brutality and atmosphere or you let yourself be guided by the music, as some writers are guided by the story?
I'm really went by instinct. When I listen to music one of the things that interests me most is the structure of a song and an album. The balance between fast and slow parts and the cuts between the parts. I'm really not a fan of "singles". I like an album when it is complete. To my taste from A to Z. I've always liked concept albums. When I wrote "Alpha-Beta" the balance was very important to me.
5- Like many concept albums, there is often the same riffs and melodic themes, sometimes so much that we feel at point that we keep hearing the same thing interpreted differently depending on the feel you want to achieve. Why this choice?
"Alpha-Beta" is based on one riff and its variations. And in fact this riff came to me from the "Maculate Conception" solo. I always saw the album as one piece. To better understand the album you must analyze it as a single song. It's structured like this. What I wanted above all was to create a listening experience. If there's repetition, it's totally deliberate. Personally I always wanted to create music, not "songs".
6- You present the project as self-produced, have you done everything alone, recording and the video production?
Yes. I wrote the album alone but as I was writing it, Mathz and I were jamming my material so he could put his personal touch on my stuff. Later I found variations from what he did. Mathz is an important inspiration for my writing. Apart from some demos I recorded just to put my riffs on the table, we recorded as while I was composing. Our friend Éric Thibeault who is also an engineer, gave us a serious hand at producing the album. So, it was pretty back and forth like that from beginning to end. That's the advantage of self-productions. Once you're equipped, you have no time limit or budget in the studio. We can record whenever we want. For the animated video, it's only me.
7- Can you tell us more about the concept developed in the album?
The concept can be understood on many levels. On the surface it's the story of the creation of a superhuman being by scientists. Relatively simple and probably cliché. But in depth, it is mostly based on my own frustrations on certain subjects; human behavior, mental health, social situations and even politics. From the feedback I received, everyone sees something a little different. After several listens, the listener will see something deeper in within his own preocupations. But to put it more bluntly, it's the creation of the Anti-Christ.
8- Why did you choose a multimedia concept? It would have been much easier to concentrate purely on the music?
Ahahah yes definitely! I am a visual person. I constantly visualize the music I listen to. Most bands make up their music with concerts in mind. Not me. I have a more conceptual approach to trap the listener in my world. Whether it works or not is up to arguable but my goal is to provide an ultimate experience that affects more than one sense at a time. Also, there are so many bands on this planet, the video gives a something to distinguish ourselves from the others.
9- The video version of the album is not a video per se, but more an experiment consisting of a montage of images that gives the impression of movement with layers of digital effects. That contributes to give the illusion of an animated sequence. How did you get the idea and why this choice?
Basically my livelihood is graphic design. It was natural for me to start with images and animate them afterward. The choice was made by default. I see the animation of "Alpha-Beta" like some kind of intelligent visualizer.
10- There are also parts of texts embedded like in karaoke, synchronized with music. I think it gives a kitsch side to your work, which otherwise would be even more mesmerizing. These words do they have special significance to you?
The lyrics are very important to the story, of course. As I explained before, the animation came first with the text on the screen. Without the text on the screen there would be no story, so no concept. I admit that it gives a kitsch side but still it's something that seems to be very popular with the fans. Having the words on the screen has allowed many people who'd never listen to Death Metal, to enjoy the album. The average person does not understand the lyrics when the voice is guttural, this comes with practice. With text on the screen, it allows the brain to focus on the rest of the music. Also, I love that it gives an intensive propaganda feel. If I had to start over, I would not hesitate two seconds to put lyrics on the screen.
11- The atmosphere of the album becomes increasingly dark and disturbing as it unfolds, with a particularly agonizing end when one begins to pay attention, and even more in the video version. Was it the goal?
Yes completely.
12- Are you inspired by concepts from other albums, readings or movies?
The audio and visual structure is loosely based on a film. With introduction, confrontation, climax and conclusion. Briefly, I wanted to give the listener a fucking slap right at the beginning and end abruptly. Otherwise on the visual side I am inspired by many things, movies, video games, reading, news, etc... I've red a lot about human behavior, science, medicine and religion.
For music, it's hard to say. When I wrote "Alpha-Beta," I've hardly listened to anything for 2 years. I'm a fan of metal since I'm 8 years old. This is surely a combination of everything I've assimilated since then.
13- You offer free music and video. This must represent hours of work for each of you and certainly a lot of sacrifices, why?
I never had the ambition to pursue a music career. I do fairly well in the multimedia business. Make music for me is just pleasure; money dilutes art. We sell the album on CD for those who like to have a physical product in hand and also to "officialize" the project. But I do not give a fuck if you buy it or not. If someone buys it, thank you very much we'll use this money to get better equipment for the next album but I see it primarily as a donation. But we don't need that to live. We all have our own career. We must also say that the reality in 2011 is that record sales are plummeting and the music industry needs to adapt to not disappear. Our approach fits the future changes; adapt to the listener's behavior rather than trying to fight it.
14- You split the MP3 file into 19 tracks, giving each a title, while basically "Alpha-Beta" is a single piece, like EDGE OF SANITY "Crimson". Is it to make it more digestible for your listeners, who may have less the impression of having to swallow a big 45-Minute chunk?
No not really. We decided to split into chapters because of the video. There are several parts where there are no words and I needed to put a "title" of certain parts for the story. I'll admit that it was very problematic to title certain parts. I see the album as one piece, deciding where to cut was difficult. We proposed it in this format primarily for convenience purposes; as when someone is listening in the car and has to constantly interrupt the album. However, it is definitely intended to be listened to in its entirety.
15- The video is also downloadable in several formats. What is the format (audio or video) that satisfies you the most in retrospect?
The HD 720p (6.7gb) version is the ultimate experience for sure. However, only us possess the best version; an uncompressed 90gb high-resolution video. Not very easy to distribute, at least for now ;)
16- Is "Alpha-Beta" live up to your expectations? Is the concept like you envisioned it?
I had no real expectations at the beginning. The expectations came later, as the animation evolved over time. Visually I could have done much better now but the project would have been released in 2020 ahahah. At some point I drew the line. The music itself is exactly what I wanted to do. We would have liked to produce a 5.1 Surround Sound version but it was very problematic technically. We have not abandoned the idea completely but our priority now is to focus on the next album.
17- It is a very ambitious project! I don't know any other band that attempted the this on an entire album, are you planing to do this again for the next record?
Yes, nothing less.
18- Do you have any ideas what will be the next album's theme or already wrote a few riffs?
Yes we already have most of the musical concept set. We have most of the base riffs written. We have recently started to make demos. I have many text already laid down. The whole concept is established in our minds, we now need to clean it all and practice it. For sure the next album will be more brutal, faster and even more scary. However, we don't have a release date yet. For the visual we would certainly like the collaboration of some other artists to push the concept even further.
19- Traditionally, the last question is not not really a question, but a space of free expression given to the interviewees. If I forgot to mention one aspect of the album you would like to talk about, go ahead! I'll leave you the last word. Thank you for your answers and for this beautiful album, an intriguing discovery!
Thank you for your time and your support is greatly appreciated. We wish to invite our fans to come forward. We offer many outlets to share your impressions and comments. Follow us on most social networks to learn more and download our album for free!
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| December 22, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - "Alpha-Beta" review on Violent Solutions Webzine | |
Source: vs-webzine.com (in french)
Site: Violent Solutions Webzone
Date: December 23rd 2011
Author: Dungorpat
Rating: 75%
Note: Here's a review we had translated in english from french, for your convenience. It's obviously very difficult to translate opinions without altering the ideas. In order to keep the meanings as much as possible, reading fluidity might be a little off. So bare with us here!
Metal is full of albums more or less ambitious and successful but few bands have tried to mix images and sound. In fact, It is not enough when it's the case, to compose songs, but also to imagine and realize the work's vision without distorting it, among other problems. This is was KROKMITËN attempted, an Experimental Death Metal band from Montreal who, after a separation in 1995 four years after its formation, met again in 2005 and began the composition of "Alpha-Beta a multimedia project which is the subject of this review.
The album is available in both audio and video, so I decided to explore it out in both formats, alternately. Apprehending this type of work is not very obvious since it's conceived as an audio / video concept, if you focus only on the audio, you're tossing out a good chunk of the concept as a whole. On the other hand, watching the video freezes the imagination, the selection of animations short-circuit the pure effect of music on the listener. Let's get into the approach, the audio of "Alpha-Beta"...
KROKMITËN attacks hard right from the first piece, showing its most brutal face made of blast-beats, very guttural death growls, and both simple and straightforward riffs. A pure and hard Metal Death offering that could be called simplistic but which is in fact a gateway to a nightmarish world, reminiscent in some aspects to SUPURATION minus the type of melodies or the cold and martial "Excess & Overdrive" from TREPONEM PAL. The few riffs and melodic themes recurrence throughout the album only accentuates this feeling of imprisonment, of being trapped in a dehumanized mechanical world, in which any other emotions beside anxiety or terror are banished. There's a lot of rhythm variations, ranging from ruthless blasts to long almost atmospheric parts, but there's always somewhere in the sound's spectrum, like a menacing hum, one of those themes that glue the concept and the album together.
The audio version can stand on its own as long as we accept getting carried and not paying too much attention to the scene sequences, otherwise the recurring riffs and melodies may become redundant. This is less the case with the video version which, if it has some flaws, is certainly still the format "Alpha-Beta" is most interesting to discover.
Although mainly made up of still images, the continual movement of these images are simulating a camera movement and if this is shocking at first, we end up acquiring a taste for it. The sequences are constantly displaying text overlays or animated graphics. The video, synchronized with the tempo change and moods of the album, is successful enough that the three-quarters of an hour flies very quickly after all. The project would've likely had even more impact if the band had received more resources and were able to achieve a real short film, but the solutions found here are satisfactory and makes of "Alpha-Beta" more than just a large video-clip. It is a real semi-animated version of the album in which we might may not love the few karaoke-style text overlays, certainly the most dispensable element that gives some amateur feel, but which the techno-cyber-je-ne-sais-quoi charm is undeniable. Especially after the explanations given by the author in an interview that you'll be able read here pretty soon, this amateurish feel tends to become secondary.
"Alpha-Beta" was an ambitious project mainly made by KROKMITËN. Mainly, because we can't but regret and notice the lack of technical resources and the artistic limitations of the video, as we could criticize the audio version for some gaps created by the redundant riffs I mentioned above that some listeners might notice. Before concluding, a few words about the choice of those Canadians to offer for free this album to anyone who wants to discover it, both in audio and video. It is possible to buy a physical version of "Alpha-Beta" and / or download both as a single audio file or cut into nineteen chapters and as a video, also available in several more or less compressed versions. All this makes this project something special that helps overlook the few negative points that were found, to concentrate on its good sides and enjoy.
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| December 21, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - "Alpha-Beta" review on Supreme Brutality | |
Source: SupremeBrutality.net
Site: Supreme Brutality
Date: December 30 2011
Author: PSL
Rating: 60%
Krokmitën is a Montreal located trio. The band was formed in 1991 and has put out a couple of demos. In 1995 the band went on a hiatus in 1995 to focus on other things. In 2005 the band regrouped and began work on a multimedia project resulting in the 46 minute track "alpha-beta". On the bands website there are video animation synced to the music.
It takes a lot to make a 46 minute song that is able to be interesting the entire 46 minutes and to be honest there are boring parts and places where the band drag things out a bit too long, like around the 10 minute mark, but overall the trio is good at making the music varied and interesting. In terms of the pace the music is mostly moderate, but there's enough diversity not to bore. I really like when the band gear up a step or two and play faster like around the 20 minute mark.
The drums have a somewhat motorized feel. It does fit the music as some of the riffs and parts remind a bit of Fear Factory. I guess a part of why that is, is because the trio also use spacey and industrial keyboard samples here and there. Those goes well with the music and underline the experimental feel that the music has.
alpha-beta is not the most conventional effort, but in terms of the music it's not all that unusual either, but that doesn't make it less good. The band has put the CD online for free download so there's really no excuse not to go and check the music out.
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| December 07, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - "Alpha-Beta" review on Musik Universe | |
Source: musikuniverse.net (in french)
Site: Musik Universe
Date: Decemver 7th 2011
Author: Yanick Tremblay
Rating: 70%
Note: Here's a review we had translated in english from french, for your convenience. It's obviously very difficult to translate opinions without altering the ideas. In order to keep the meanings as much as possible, reading fluidity might be a little off. So bare with us here!
To begin with, don't be deterred by the name, because I must admit... the wordplay is a little nu-metal circa 1997. But after popping the album in my player, I realized that the sound of Krokmitën had nothing to do with bands like Shuvel and Snot!
What Krokmitën offers is real cerebral metal, fast but with a very razor-sounding tone, combined with and old-school distortion that excoriate the eardrums. This disc is intended as a long song divided into 19 parts. By listening to this metallic river, we understand much better what the band wants to offer us rather than listening to it sporadically with some breaks here and there. Krokmitën's main objective is this: to perform a cervical lobotomy using a Makita drill mounted with a dull bit!
In terms of musical ethics, this Krokmitën CD reminds us of the first Death Metal productions offered back in the days by Pestilence, Obliveon and Atheist; some intelligent metal that offers a progressive conceptual vision. But there's a lack of variance in terms of vocals that is generally very linear and one dimensional. Some changes would have greatly helped since the concept could've won by offering some additional vocal layers, this would've provided a new sonic sphere rather than the single throat's hoarseness like featured on Cocktail of Blood, The Reversed Speech, La Thérapie and Locked In The Red Room, songs with gargantuan potential but seems to stagnate by the lack of vocal colors. It seems to me that a huge guttural voice would fit in some parts!
Krokmitën has a huge potential! Oh yes! The only thing left is to fix some things here and there!
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| December 03, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - "Alpha-Beta" review on The Pit of the Damned | |
Source: http://www.pavillon666.fr (in french)
Site: The Pit of the Damned
Date: December 3rd 2011
Author: Francesco Scarci
Rating: 85%
Note: Here's a review we had translated in English from Italian, for your convenience. It's obviously very difficult to translate opinions without altering the ideas. In order to keep the meaning as much as possible, reading fluidity might be a little off. So bare with us here!
To be among the first to review an album in my country is always a pleasure for me, so today I popped this into my stereo at full volume, the debut album released by these crazy Canadians, which respond to the name of Krokmitën, makes me very proud. Especially for the very interesting proposal from this trio of Montreal, formed in 1991!
Opening with the explosive attack ‘The Reverse Speech’ an onslaught of heavy artillery, with an intense riffing, a launch of cluster grenades which will do nothing but make a clean sweep of all the evils of the world, thanks to a sharp blades riffing and screaming solos. Fortunately there is time to take a break from the initial battle with ‘Surrender’ which is the ideal bridge to the next ‘Geisteszustand’, which would make a beautiful figure even on a Massive Attack album. It seems more to be more like a trip-hop song than a death one, demonstrating an experimental side with a low mood accompanied by a desperate growling and heart-wrenching guitar crying for vengeance and gives us an entrancing final solo. Wow, I love them already. They are madmen, how much better can it be to spend a fun evening. With ‘Panic Attack’ we're back to evil with power chords, while not ever going to exaggerated extreme speeds, the heaviness succeeds with great effectiveness and manages however to raze. ‘The Transformation’ is a crazed train that derailed dangerously displaying grind barbarity in 49 seconds of total brutality. Then an other dangerous slowdown "Cocktail of Blood" pulls the handbrake, but you'll have to hand it to them, this album is full and reinvents in a new dimension of progressive death, slow, obsessive and distressing.
I'm stunned, entranced by the genius of this Canadian trio, which we must listen to, because on their site, the album is offered as a free download. If you are looking for a new intriguing experience within the boundaries of extreme music, ‘Alpha-Beta’ is by far what it will do to you: violent music but loaded with grooves, intelligent and highly experimental technicality, also add a mix of avant-garde, psychedelic and absolute schizophrenia. What are you waiting for? Still here getting lost in the chatter, make listening to this your first priority!
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| November 30, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - Interviewed by Unhallowed Nation Magazine | |
Source: UnallowedNation.com
Site: Unhallowed Nation Magazine
Date: November 30th 2011
Author: Dan McGarry
Unhallowed Nation Interviews Krokmitën
Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Simlev of Krokmitën and talk about the massive concept project that eventually became “Alpha-Beta” as well as some general information about the band, check it out below.
1. How did the band form?
The original line-up was formed through friends of friends that we met here and there in our neighborhood. We were jamming’ and soon started playing live. After two demo tape the band as finally split has some were more in thrash and others evolving more towards death and extreme metal. I’ve always kept contact with Mathz and we were jamming occasionally. I’ve met Dubg through Mathz and we all jammed together. Mathz and I decided to record Alpha-Beta and we’ve talk about it with Dubg. He wasn’t available at the time so we started recording on our own with the help of an engineer friend, Éric Thibeault. Finally, last year we decided to finish the album and as Dubg got more involved in the process he also became part of the band and recorded guitar tracks on the record.
2. Who or what bands influence you or your playing style the most?
I decided to pick up the guitar in the late 80′s once I’ve heard Metallica “… And Justice For All” and Voivod “Dimension Hatross”. I always loved music that has a very cold feel and that are conceptual, those two albums pretty much shaped my style. After that I’d name Morbid Angel, Death and Slayer. I’m a huge fan of Piggy (Voivod) and Chuck Schuldiner (Death), unfortunately they’re both dead. “And Justice” is also a big influence amongst the other members of the band.
3. “Alpha-Beta” is a huge accomplishment, how long did it take to all come together?
I started writing it in 2005, we finished recording most of it around 2007. We all have professional careers in different fields so we could only work on the album in our spare time. I would finish an intensive project at work that took four months then I would take a break and work on the album for a month straight and then start an other project at work, it’s been pretty much like this until we released it. But I digress, to answer your question, it’s very difficult to say how much time exactly, I’m still in denial on this one. So, overall: A LOT!
4. A 10 year hiatus can destroy a band, did you feel hindered after coming back from such a long break?
No, not really. We all had other things going on. When we rebooted the band it felt fresh and natural. Also, we were older with more life experience, shitty ones and good ones. We were eager to start working on Alpha-Beta. In the meantime we still jammed together from time to time.
5. Is there any special “tradition” the band does right before you hit the stage?
Yes, we all dive in a pool of cocaine while still high on crack. Then we proceed with the virgin sacrifice. ahah, I’m just kidding. So far no, we haven’t hit the stage as a whole since the last festival we played some years ago.
6. If given the chance to orchestrate your own “dream tour” who would you choose to play with and why?
Just a festival with all of our influences, dead or alive.
7. The video sequences to “Alpha-Beta” were over the top brutal, who sequenced them?
That would be me.
8. Over the years the music industry has changed/evolved. Do you feel it’s for the better?
Absolutely! Technology progressed to the point that anyone with a crazy idea, a lot of dedication and an ounce of talent can achieve an album comparable to any major act out there. You can do a lot now with a basic budget. And with the net, anyone armed with patience can promote their music themselves. It’s all out there at hand’s reach. We are right into the transition period now, the old ways are fading away. We believe we are part of the new age.
9. Looking forward where do you foresee METAL in 5 years?
Metal will just keep pushing the same boundaries it always did since the first Black Sabbath album. Heavier and faster. Some new sub-genres will surely breed out of the existing ones. In the big scheme of things 5 years isn’t that long, the evolution shouldn’t be that obvious.
10. What advice would you give to up and coming independent bands?
I would suggest to stay independent, to auto-produce yourself, to take your time to craft your art and to give your music away for free. Stay away from labels if you don’t want to sink with them.
11. Often times people perceive performers such as yourselves to be role models, how do you respond to that?
You can be inspired by some performers and artists. But “the role models” thing sounds a bit too excessive. People should think for themselves. They can listen to the multitude of messages that are sent their way but in the end they should go with what feels right to them. If you are true to yourself, eventually this Utopian “role model” will be revealed as flawed.
12. Why offer your music for free?
Personally I think you should ask other bands this: why make people pay for your music? Like mentioned above, the music industry is in mutation. We believe that its time to go with the flow instead of fighting it. Also it’s important to mention that in the band we all deal business contracts, paper works, payments and all sort of legal bullshit, the last thing we want as artists is to deal with such crap on something we love doing. We sell the physical CD for people who likes to hold a physical product in their hands and as a milestone achievement but we don’t care if people buy it or not. If people buy it, good, we’ll use that money to get better gear but if they don’t it won’t stop us. After all your goal should be that everyone can enjoy your album without having to spend a dime. Money dilutes art.
13. Do you have anything you would like to say to your fans?
Join us on Twitter, Facebook, google+ or MySpace and talk to us, we love receiving comments from our fans. Don’t be shy, we’ll try to answer everyone when time permits. Also, if you like the album, become a member on our site, right now we have a signed CD contest. Post a comment on our guestbook to enter.
A big thanks goes out to Simlev and all the members of Krokmitën for this interview,for more info about Krokmitën head on over to their official website at krokmitten.com
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| November 24, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - "Alpha-Beta" review on Nightfall in Metal Earth | |
Source: http://metal.nightfall.fr (in french)
Site: Nightfall in Metal Earth
Date: November 24th 2011
Author: Mefisto
Rating: 70%
Note: Here's a review we had translated in english from french, for your convenience. It's obviously very difficult to translate opinions without altering the ideas. In order to keep the meaning as much as possible, reading fluidity might be a little off. So bare with us here!
Tell me about a concept ... A 46-minute piece of wild Industrial Death / Black coupled with video animations synchronized to the music. Yes! There's a high chance that you'll be mesmerized by those migraines inducing images while listening to "Alpha-Beta". And the best part? In addition to being original in its approach, the Montreal trio offers everything for free on their website www.krokmiten.com! That's it for packaging. Attractive, right? And for that matter, take the time first to appreciate this first album's artwork... does it reminds you of a Thrash classic?
Once you jumped into this pool of visuals, that you dare to experience the video or not, it is easier to swallow this experimental metal band. This good big thrashy and glittering Death / Black is undoubtedly fed with electricity in a dark laboratory. There's Industrial details everywhere on this record, like a kind of acid in your veins, a psychotropic delirium, but not too extreme. The Quebecers also had the good sense not to drown us with a hyper polished production. Because the guitars' saturation and the pestilential atmosphere that exists on "Alpha-Beta" would have been too overwhelming. No, they kept it simple. And it works, because after many long plays of this album, at first intimidating and claustrophobic the format becomes more unified that we once thought. Without being the album of the century.
Holy shit, we can't deny it, it takes patience! Think about it a little: 46 minutes of guitar neck wankery, nitpicking, hallucinations and sometimes rough attempts to creep you out. This is not obvious. You must be overly persistent. Don't ever forget that unhealthy flow of energy that goes through your brain, it will help you stay hooked for the trip's duration. Unless you eat industrial for breakfast ...
As to dissect this work, I think that listing the most brilliant parts (like the first 14 or 29 minutes) is not only overly subjective but it would diminish what the Quebecers wanted to create. A 46-minute chunk divided into different parts is equivalent to a normal track listing. Why not do that? Their choice. Not mine. Maybe not yours but hey, if you take the time and trouble for it you'll have great time. Especially when the trio gets mad and pushes the tempo up and make their instruments scream, only then we really acknowledge KROKMITËN, the big thug infused with modernism and industrial metal.
I didn't think that I would get that much into this violent and powerful fascinating world. But I did and without too much trouble. And I think fans of Extreme Metal and Industrial in particular, will get into this unhealthily epic piece filled with tortured riffs and tremolos. A real creepily lit execution chamber, with deadly discharge of poisonous bites. Even the slower sections will feed you with some wacko Stoner/Doom, as if the knife quietly slit a wound.
"Alpha-Beta" is a curious offering in this second half of the year, an ambitious project that I'm not entirely convinced of yet. The video aspect does not turn me off but I do not just feel the need to stay glued in front for it for 46 minutes. I will probably not be the only one like this but if you feel like a brave guinea pigs... No, I prefer to concentrate KROKMITËN's not too soft music, a monster of an exemplary generosity.
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| November 15, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - "Alpha-Beta" review on Metal Dad Australia's blog | |
Source: MetalDadAustralia.blogspot.com
Site: Metal Dad Australia
Date: November 15th 2011
Author: Adrian (a.k.a. Metal Dad)
Krokmiten "Alpha-Beta" review
Krokmiten are an experimental death metal band from Canada who have taken an ambitious step while recording their full length debut "Alpha-Beta". They have recorded only one song! One 45 minute, blistering assault!!
Did they pull this off? Hell yeah!
"Alpha-Beta" is jam packed full of tempo changes with a mixture of tradtional metal riff work with blistering speed metal and drums that could cause an epileptic fit!! The vocals? Pure brutal goodness, particularly in the final few minutes (more on that later).
At times it is hard to find 45 minutes to sit and listen to one song but "Alpha-Beta" is a great driving album, I like to have something heavy as fuck playing while trying to deal with traffic at the end of the day and this does the trick perfectly!
As far as picking "top tracks" go, this one is a bit hard, so I chose a "top section", particulary for the vocals (as mentioned above) these are some of the most brutally good vocals I have heard in a while.
Krokmiten have made "Alpha-Beta" (audio and video) available downloadable for free from their site http://www.krokmiten.com/ or check them out on FaceBook and Twitter.
If you like the album, maybe even support the band and buy a copy!!
Adrian \m/
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| October 23, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - "Alpha-Beta" review on Pavillon 666 | |
Source: http://www.pavillon666.fr (in french)
Site: Pavillon666.fr
Date: October 23rd 2011
Author: Mearog
Rating: 75%
Note: Here's a review we had translated in english from french, for your convenience. It's obviously very difficult to translate opinions without altering the ideas. In order to keep the meaning as much as possible, reading fluidity might be a little off. So bare with us here!
Who said that Death Metal was not original? Surely not me anyway, just need to see the bunch of industrial bands out there, which jumped in this relatively new genre, providing electronic elements to add extra power, from the Symphonic Death of Septic Flesh, or the Dutch of The Monolith Deathcult that released the phenomenal album called "The Triumvirate style "... The genre is spreading gradually but does not deviate, keeping its basic roots that makes all the effectiveness of the entire genre.
You will therefore understand that Quebecers "Krokmitën" play in a category of Death which is leaning toward modern and futuristic experimentations through a concept that is ambitious and progressive... but if we dig a little, is not very innovative. The 46-minute song trick, we have already seen hundreds of times, so is the supernatural sci-fi psycho-philosophical-intellectuello theme.
You could get scared at first, noticing the lack of bass player in the lineup seen on the band's website but the first few seconds of Alpha-Beta will immediately be reassuring. Not satisfied enough to just deal with singing, Simlev also recorded the bass and guitar, and the end result is a phenomenal power that fits perfectly with the concept. The kind of modern production that went through a small protein-enhanced face-lift session. Not a bit of fat left, everything is top clean, so much that we could be ourselves in it, if it was technically possible... Fans of dirty/scary old-school Death Metal may want to pass on this one.
In short, I'll stop bitching for two seconds to get to the point. Technically speaking this is your ultra typical piece which alternates between fast blasts to mid-tempo beats all the way without doing anything else. I won't describe every parts, but be aware that under the wall of guitars with little inventiveness hides a multitude of little details sticking to the concept: synth, industrial parts, melodic solos and sometimes some almost ambient bass / drums duo... Each mid-tempo parts has its little something that allows us to not get bored while the riffs turn in loops with no originality... but effectively. You'll notice an agonizing ending which features a tempered perverted voice. The apocalyptic atmosphere made of various samples and dirge riffs blends together for a guaranteed nightmarish effect.
The album has a strong and cold and industrial side caused by the surgical sound where the incisions are precisely made in between the tempo changes like a well executed lobotomy. But when it accelerates all at once, Mamma Mia! You are in for a severe head shake. Because it's downright enjoyable for the neck. Even though I nitpicked on the production, when Mathz starts a double bass-drum blast while the other dude go out of breath (or not, because we don't hear Simlev that much on the very few vocal parts there is out there) and that riffs are more dissonant and inventive, believe me the effect of a Boeing 747 crashing into your house is always present. Look, trust me and forget everything I just said in the previous four paragraphs: regardless of the number of samples there is, the length of the title, this album blasts like it's not permitted, period!
The band took the extra care of producing a visual animation accompanying the concept. We go through some hypnotizing psychedelic and mind-numbing scenes(the effect is surely intentional). During the most brutal sequences you get a little anatomy class with some on-screen lyrics in English, German and French (how does Death Metal growls sound like in the French Quebecers accent?), but everything is perfectly matched, musically and visually (ex: a heart beating at full throttle just before going into cardiac arrest for a blast, well done!). Point given here.
And to finish on a good note, you will find all the content on their site. Krokmitën didn't go half-way and offers, for free, nothing less than the whole album, as well as a directly viewable or downloadable video. So, you have no excuse for not supporting the band. Even if the band locks itself in a pattern already seen in the past couple of years, it doesn't have any negative impact, it's fine-tuned and powerful. The mechanical and industrial sides could be developed further in the future, but in the meantime, Alpha-Beta is a debut album that deserves your attention. Ready for an electroshock?
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| October 18, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - "Alpha-Beta" Blog Article by Raucous Rocker | |
Source: Raucous Rocker on blogcritics.org/
Site: Metal Storm
Date: November 22nd 2011
Author: Raucous Rocker
Krokmitën and Texas Hippie Coalition
Hello there, I’m the Raucous Rocker. Today is a special review. No, not because it’s being done during Thanksgiving week (so many TV shows claiming to be Thanksgiving specials just because they’re shown around Thanksgiving time; I have no idea why) but because I am going to start a little series which features bands that followed me on Twitter. I’m always excited and flattered when a band adds me on Twitter (even though I’m sure almost all of them auto-added me in order to get more followers) and this series of reviews is my way of saying thanks--well, as long as their music is good. I’ll continue the project until I run out of bands following me, so if you want me to review you, follow me!
Now that my shameless self-advertising is out of the way, let’s begin my first review of the series. Like I said, these two bands followed me, although one (and only one) of these bands actually messaged me and asked for a review personally, so of course I couldn’t say no. These bands are Krokmitën and Texas Hippie Coalition… wow, that name gets me every time.
KROKMITËN
I will begin with the band who personally asked for the review, Krokmitën. They are an "experimental death metal" band from Canada, who released a very strange album which is basically one long track set to a nearly fifty minute long music video. Now, I have to be honest here--I didn’t listen to the whole thing, only about the first half. Not only is pure brutal death metal not really my thing, but I don’t have a particularly long attention span. Unless it was Wintersun making a fifty minute-long music video, there’s no way I would be able to sit through it all. But hey, Jari Maenpaa is about the closest any human has ever gotten to being omnipotent, so that is to be expected.
Anyway, Krokmitën… you know, that name is kind of weird for a band based in Canada with English lyrics. It sounds more German, like the name of a Rammstein song. Krokmitën is a very ambitious band, and you can easily see this on their album/music video. The video is also kind of weird, like watching those crazy visuals Windows Media Player shows when you’re playing a song on it but with lyrics and the occasional image of a person or something medical related thrown in.
As I was saying, you can tell this band is really enthusiastic about their music, and it shows; the music is very good in both construction and technical quality, switches around often enough so that you don’t get bored (something that all too often plagues long metal tracks), and all of the musicians are quite good at what they do. The drummer provides intense rhythms while the guitarists shred their instruments and play the occasional solo. It’s reminiscent of early death metal bands like Morbid Angel and Death, except I got tired of those bands' songs pretty quickly. This band held my interest for a fairly long time with their cool music video and inspiring songwriting. All in all, they’re not one of my favorite bands but they’re definitely a cut above most death metal acts. Kudos to you, Krokmitën; I expect to see some great things from you in the future.
TEXAS HIPPIE COALITION
Now this band is just a whole lot of fun; think Pantera/Black Label Society meets those Texas country songs you always hear in steakhouse commercials and you’ve got a good idea of what these guys do. They
also have the uncanny ability to make several serious contenders for the catchiest songs in metal. I’m not going to be able to get "Crawlin'" out of my head for days. While none of the band members are wizards on their instruments, they really know how to put songs together, combining all the elements harmoniously and writing simple yet invigorating riffs. For me, they’re a lot better than Pantera, another Southern metal band which I could just never get into (they’re about on par with Black Label Society, although they lack Zakk’s lightning solos), which is not an easy feat for any band.
Anyway, this band has great knowledge of rhythm and creating beats. Both guitarists play along with the bass (which, unfortunately, is rarely audible) and drums to provide a catchy beat for the vocalist while the occasional guitar solo comes in to mix things up. The vocalist is also really good; he sounds like Zakk from BLS with a deeper, more solid voice. I don’t know, to me, Zakk always sounded like he was slightly drunk when he was singing. This is really a perfect match for the music; any other voice would feel out of place, but this guy gets the job done perfectly.
So these are the two bands that I chose to review first out of my Twitter followers, and I’ve got to say, it’s a fantastic start. Both of these bands are very good acts and have both talented musicians and strong songwriting skills. Hopefully this will keep on going, as now my hopes are very high for the rest of the bands and I’m looking forward to writing the rest of the reviews. So all I’ve got to say now is thanks to Krokmitën and Texas Hippie Coalition for following me so I could hear your music, and keep it up! I’m looking forward to hearing more from both of you. I’m the Raucous Rocker, see ya!
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| September 06, 2011 - Highlights for August 2011 | |
| It was a very successful first month for us. We released the album and launched the official website. We had the official album launch party two days ago at L'Hémisphère Gauche in Montréal. Thanks to everyone who showed-up to celebrate with us!
Offering the album for free has its perks. It gives us access to a full set of statistics that include complete reports on how many times it has been downloaded, the number of visits, and from where the visitors are from. We're somewhat stats whores. So, for the curious ones, here are some examples.
August 2011 highlights:
- More than 150 physical copy of the CD was moved.
- The album was downloaded over 600 times in various formats. Surprisingly the 6.7gb HD video is popular: 114 downloads. It proves to us that people are ready to take extra time and hard disc space for higher quality.
- 35 000 hits on the site for about 800 unique visitors.
- We've reached a staggering 400gb of bandwidth use on the server.
- The project is being very well received. The public and critics have both written positively about the album. Checkout the reviews here, here and here.
- The trend seems to be that people watch the YouTube videos and then download the 6.7gb HD video afterward.
- The most astonishing statistics are the countries to where people have downloaded the album. So far, we've had people from almost every corner of the planet (over 60 countries) visiting the site and downloading the album. They include: USA, Canada, Spain, Great Britain, Vietnam, Italy, Netherlands, France, Germany, Egypt, Malaysia, Switzerland, Some undisclosed European countries, Romania, Poland, Morocco, Sweden, Bulgaria, Brazil, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Belgium, Hungary, Tunisia, Mexico, Portugal, Denmark, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Africa, New Zealand, Guatemala, Slovenia, Israel, China, India, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Finland, Argentina, Myanmar/Burma, Turkey, Croatia, Chile, Latvia, Philippines, Norway, Colombia, Ireland, Lithuania, Iran, Greece, Australia, Jordan, Peru, and more...
- We've received great comments from fans all over the world, and we love getting comments! We want more, so leave your comments on the site, via YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, MySpace, even more than by email. We think that artists need to interact with their fans and go that extra mile to reach success. We read all your comments and messages, and will eventually respond to everyone. Only trolls will be ignored!
Thanks for you support, spread the word and stay tuned for more. |
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| September 05, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - "Alpha-Beta" review on Metal Rules | |
Source: http://www.metal-rules.com
Site: Metal Storm
Date: September 5th 2011
Author: Aaron Yurkiewicz
Rating: 80%
Horns up to Montreal’s Krokmitën. The experimental death metal trio’s debut ALPHA-BETA is an example of how to do independently released music right. The care and quality put into the music, presentation, and promotion behind ALPHA-BETA could put more established acts to shame. Meant to be experienced as a multi-media concept piece, ALPHA-BETA would be a complex release for any band, much less a self-released debut. Integrating traditional death metal discipline with hints of Rush styled progressive themes and a Matrix-esque sense of sci-fi awareness, Krokmitën’s debut is an advantageous single 46-minute stream of consciousness.
At its base musical level, ALPHA-BETA is death metal goodness, through and through. You can hear the influences of Kataklysm, Corpse, Immolation, and other like-minded kin throughout most of the album. The band takes this rootsy approach to the music and inflects various Voivod-isms and general bizzaro elements for an original approach to a familiar recipe. ALPHA-BETA is divided into 19 “chapters,” which may seem like audio overload, but Krokmitën does a great job of balancing the weight across the album. The full-fledged rippers (“The Reversed Speech,” “Panic Attack” and “Corporeal Reanimation”) are balanced out by slower dirges (“Self-Hypnosis,” “Oroboros”), 60 second grind blasts (“La Transformacion”, “The Thirst,” “La Therapie”), and intermission styled ambience (“Contagium Famositasm,” “Epileptic Seizure”). Sufficed to say, ALPHA-BETA is packed with variety and is paced exceptionally well.
Beyond the music itself though, Krokmitën has taken great pains to craft a unique and memorable artistic experience. As a companion piece to the album, the band has created a set of accompanying digital animation pieces synced to the music that creates an almost holistic listening experience. Viewing the videos and reading the lyrics as they’re positioned like uncomfortably compelling propaganda across the screen makes for a freshly intense and sinister experience. ALPHA-BETA sounds great, looks great, it is great.
And the best part of the deal? Krokmitën’s giving it away as a free download. Simply visit their website and you can download the album in various formats, as well as the accompanying videos. A physical copy of the disc will set you back a few shekels, but it’s money well spent. Much respect to any band willing to put this much effort and care into promoting their craft. Even if death metal isn’t your thing, check out
Krokmitën and ALPHA-BETA. It’s entertaining, it’s impressive, and it’s free.
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| September 01, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - "Alpha-Beta" review on Hour Community | |
Source: http://hour.ca/2011/09/01/alpha-beta/
Site: Hour Community
Date: September 1st 2011
Author: Kristof G.
Rating: 80%
Twenty-year-old band Krokmitën (which could be translated by something like "Bøøgymän") have bilingual lyrics, futuristic concepts and blasting virtuosity, delivering an audaciously mean, self-described experimental extreme metal. Alpha-Beta is only their first full-length album; after putting out two demos in the 90s, they took a decade off before reforming in 2005. It was worth the wait, since the local trio blend technical death metal, prog, ambient and industrial with brio. Old school Fear Factory and Obliveon fans will certainly dig it. The guitar tones sometimes echo Ministry, while others strike Voïvod-esque chords or solos in the vein of Death and Cynic. Classic, really. Don’t forget to check out their website, as the whole 19-song album (in audio-visual form) is available as a free download. Scary. |
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| August 26, 2011 - Official album launch in Montréal | |
The official video album launch will be at L'Hémisphère Gauche (Beaubien Metro) in Montréal, sept 1st 2011 from 5 to 7PM. The video will be shown twice during those two hours and we'll surely hang out over there for a little while afterward. The event is free and the beer will be cheap. So come and have a few casual beers with us.
More info at L'Hémisphère Gauche website: http://www.hemispheregauche.com/
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| August 20, 2011 - KROKMITĖN - "Alpha-Beta" review on Metal Storm | |
Source: http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=9527
Site: Metal Storm
Date: August 20th 2011
Author: WormDrink414
Rating: 80%
If there's one type of band I instinctively steer clear of, it's the type that constantly makes me look around and ask "where am I? the fuck is that? the fuck is this? " You know, Blackjazz/Unexpect/proggy prog kind of stuff. Stuff that makes me want to run wailing back to the death metal stronghold and play with Tonka trucks. Occasionally, however, said death metal stronghold is infiltrated by "experimental" stuff. Krokmitën has strolled into it, twirling its mustache, twiddling its fingers, and have plotted something big with the concept album alpha-beta. Something all experimental like. And when something as structurally weird (for DM, at least) as this moseys on in, I can't help but feel a little suspicious. Luckily, this is a comparatively safe experimental album. And I like that about this thing in particular quite a bit. The WTF moments scattered throughout don't at all detract from the album's death grooves. They're there to surprise and keep the listener entertained, not to show off. The album doesn't revolve around them. Although the lyrics read a bit like what you'd expect from a writing seminar run by Jeremy Loughner, they're easy enough to ignore if that's not your kind of thing. There's an abundance of solid riffing, an abundance of excellent growling, and some pretty vicious-sounding drumming as well. The band is skilled, and you'll likely bang your head along with them quite a bit during this. As for the more experimental, ambient/orchestral bits, they too are, for the most part, enjoyable. Also, when the album's brutal moments crescendo, they succeed in bringing on the spine quivers and Mick Jagger lip contortions--a feat worth recognition. Bottom line, this isn't an album to causally toss on while drinking and/or around friends. Nor is it supposed to be played while alone, puffing tobacco, tugging at your goatee, pretending to understand the obnoxiously cryptic Baudrillard book you're looking at. It's experimental stuff. You're going to have to experiment with it. |
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| August 05, 2011 - New album "Alpha-Beta" now available in its entirety for free | |
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"Alpha-Beta", a brand new debut album from Montreal experimental death metallers KROKMITËN, is now available in its entirety for free on the band's website www.krokmiten.com . The concept album consists of one single 46-minute track accompanied by an animated video synced to the music directed by KROKMITËN's guitarist/vocalist Simlev. The recoding has been done at SLA-M Studio in Montréal by KROKMITËN and Engineer Éric Thibeault. The mixing and mastering has been done at EXPAZ Studio in Montréal by Guy Dubuisson.
KROKMITËN' is an experimental Death Metal band from Montréal founded in 1991. After two demos and years of local gigs, they took a lengthy hiatus in 1995 to concentrate on their respective careers. In 2005, they regrouped to work on this ambitious multimedia project, a 46-minute track with animation synced to the music.
Guitarist/Vocalist Simlev comments about the project: "I'm very proud about what we've achieved. It's an ambitious experimental project that I've been obsessed with for quite a while. I'm very excited to share it with everyone."
Simlev added: "As the music industry struggles, it was out of question from the start to approach a label with this project. They've fucked with people for so long, they pretty much get what they deserve. So we've decided to produce it ourselves and take the independant route. Releasing it for free is very important to us."
"We hope people will watch and listen to alpha-beta and leave us comments on the numerous outlet we offer. Go to our website and download everything absolutely free. What we're looking for are feedbacks, good or bad. You can also make a donation via PayPal if you like what we're doing and want to help the band."
"Alpha-Beta" was also made available as a limited-edition CD and can be purchased at www.krokmiten.com via PayPal if owning a physical copy is your thing. |
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Purchase
krokmitėn "alpha-beta" on CD
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