Kraton – Monolith

A few weeks ago, Patrick Kettenmeyer sent me the latest album by Kraton. The most natural and illuminating question to raise is; who’s Kraton then? It’s a five-piece group founded in 2011 and hailing from the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. Current line-up of the band is Patrick Kettenmeyer (bass), Jacques Zahlen (guitar), Mike Bertemes (vocals), Ken Poiré (guitar) & Véronique Conrardy (drums).

With Monolith, this Luxembourg-based quintet are releasing their fourth album. I personally wasn’t familiar with band’s sound prior to listening to this new eight-tracker record. Meanwhile, after the first spin I was convinced that we are dealing with top-class musicians who’ve obviously shared small and big stages with many local and international bands. Also a fact that Monolith is their fourth full-length gives a sense of stability and coherence, despite of a couple of line-up changes.

Checking their previous releases, namely Ker (2011), World Eater (2013) or even Unto Arcadia (2019) it’s clear that their roots are in death metal, while gradually over course of time adding more and more post-metal, ambient and doom metal elements. Thus, their sound is raw, vibrant and pretty varied too. According to the band, ‘the lyrical themes are drawn from the bleak corners of the human condition dominated by the arduousness of our shared mortal coil.’

Monolith opens with self-titled a slow-paced opener. It sounds tough, brutal, crushing & with oppressive heavy riffs and deep hellish depressive vocals that will destroy any optimism left in you. After the initial almost six minutes of melancholy, “Roaring Silence” kicks in with some refreshing and almost rock sounding before going back to deep doom melancholy again. Next song is called “Embrace the Void”, where one is being drowned further into a state of melancholy and despair. Again I will emphasize the harsh, raw and anguished vocals which perfectly matches the mood and vibe of the entire album. “The Breath In Our Lungs” and “Take No Comfort, There Is None” start off a little rockier and almost danceable, at least in the beginning of the songs. Mike’s (vocals) voice cuts are especially strong on songs like “Take No Comfort, There Is None” and “Curse this Mortal Coil”. In between the two there’s a track named “Apostate”, which is yet another painful, depressive and emotional track that has some really cool instrumentalization and an overall coherent and compelling performance. The album ends with a poetic and wonderful “Omega”, a truly stand-out song, ending the album on a high note.

Production is modern, yet thick and heavy as it is supposed to be when we are dealing with a release of this kind. It often focused on heavy, downtuned guitars and sorrowful emotion, while relying on lengthy, brooding atmospheric passages. It’s unpolished, and with this cold and desolate atmosphere. Cover artwork might not look very ‘metal’ at first sight, but from what I’ve been told, the three owls gazing back at you might symbolize ‘balance, spirituality and harmony’?!

Monolith is an album for gloomy and foggy autumn days (hint – release date!) and it will delight fans of the genre and all those who prefer melancholy and despair should definitely give the band a chance. Esp. recommended for fans of Cathedral, Saturnus, Amenra, Thou, Solitude Aeturnus, Burial Clouds and similar ambient death/doom/post-metal acts.

My special thanks go to Patrick Kettenmeyer who provided me with this great release. Please find more info on all Kraton releases here https://kraton.bandcamp.com/music