An immensely technical black metal project whose music harks back to the early days of Burzum, Gorgoroth, and Ulver, Krallice began in 2007 as a collaboration between guitarists Mick Barr (Orthrelm and Ocrilim) and Colin Marston (Behold... The Arctopus and Dysrhythmia). Hailed as one of the leading lights of modern black metal, the band issued their eponymous debut in 2008 and have since gone on to release a slew of acclaimed albums and EPs (Diotima, 2011, Ygg Huur, 2015, and Wolf, 2019) that push the genre into exhilarating new directions. Formed in New York City by Barr and Marston, the group expanded into a four-piece with the additions of drummer Lev Weinstein and bassist Nicholas McMaster, the latter of whom, along with Barr, would also contribute vocals. Krallice released their punishing yet virtuosic eponymous debut album in 2008 via Profound Lore to much critical praise, but it was their next two efforts, 2009's genre-bending Dimensional Bleedthrough and 2011's cathartic and complex Diotima, that would cement their reputation as black metal innovators. The band continued to hone their signature blend of guitar pyrotechnics, complex progressive rock, and uncompromising blackened metal on their independently released fourth full-length outing, Years Past Matter, and in 2015 they issued the malevolent Gorguts and Alter of Plagues-inspired Ygg Huur, which was named after a suite by Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi. 2016 saw the releases of the Hyperion EP and the full-length Prelapsarian, and in 2017 the group teamed up with Neurosis co-founder and bassist Dave Edwardson for the short yet sturdy Loüm, which was followed closely by the equally punishing Go Be Forgotten. In 2019 Krallice unleashed the aptly named Wolf, a howling and harrowing EP that, as per usual, plays fast and loose with traditional heavy metal architecture. ~ James Christopher Monger