KRIEGSMASCHINE - Enemy of Man (2014)

Genre:  Black Metal

Label: No Solace

Rating: 8.5/10

One of my good friends described the new KSM as "Mgła goes Deathspell Omega." I think that's a fairly apt description. KSM and Mgła share a member; M, the vocallist/guitarist/main songwriter (and Darkside, who also did session drums for With Hearts Toward None), and I would say it sounds like WHTN meets Chaining the Katechon.

On track one, "None Shall See Redemption," we here it intro with a chant of what sounds like the beginning of a Bach piece. Then a very interesting drum pattern comes in, with simple guitar over it. The vocals are killer, as one might expect from M., and the guitar tone is exquisite, with plenty of low-end punch in them. The bass and bass drum are also quite noticeable through decent speakers. After approximately the 3:45 minute the emphasis on the guitars goes to the lower strings, with one guitar holding rhythm and the other tremolo picking a string and gradually bending it. In fact, after that point, there is a good amount of string bending, leading up to a frenetic last two minutes. "Lies of the Fathers" is a great song, seemingly about the end times. "This is the point where tragedy and irony are dissolved in apathy./Perdition is at hand. No apokatastasis./The sense and the structure: lies of the fathers." Once again, great drum rhythms, damn good. They almost overshadow the guitar parts in this song.. 

The third track, "Farewell to Grace," has a very addictive rhythm guitar part. In fact, so is the verse. "Asceticism and Passion" starts off in a rather unique way, utilising the high strings. Then around the 3:30 mark, things get really catchy in a dark way. The vocals are reduced to a low chant. Around the six minute mark is a very good drumbeat. It lasts about a minute. Track five, "To Ashen Havens." Starts off slow and dark. This may be the only song on the album with a majority of the drumbeats being standard drumbeats. That's not a bad thing, as this song might also be the best on the album, it's just... a funny coincidence. Of course, as soon as I say that, at around 3:54, a different drumbeat occurs, non-standard and masterful use of the cymbals. The part around 6:10 has an awesome guitar riff and picking rhythm, with a layer of guitar through a wah. The closer is the title track, "Enemy of Man." This is a mid-tempo affair. In fact, none of the songs ever get particularly fast. Perhaps swift, but no blasting.

The instrumentation on this album, and the progress made since Altered States of Divinity, are astounding. It's a very interesting album. I think, however, its downfall is that it sounds a bit too much like Mgła, and I like Mgła too much to allow two of them in this world. Additionally, I would've much preferred new Mgła to new KSM. That's why I didn't rate this album any higher than I did. It definitely deserves your support, and you can buy it here.