When ill-fated British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from the Munich agreement waving a piece of paper and declaring that he had secured ‘peace for our time’, little did he know that his words would forever be associated with one of the most grievous conflicts the world has ever seen. The phrase has echoed throughout history, sublime in its irony and was subsequently uttered by John F. Kennedy who sought peace in his time shortly before his assassination in 1963 presaged the way for American combat engagement in Vietnam just two years later. The phrase, whilst uttered with the best of intentions, could then be seen as the harbinger of war and it certainly serves that purpose well as the title of Krysthla’s sophomore effort, an album that mirrors a descent into the fiery inferno of destruction from the moment that it explodes into your consciousness with crushing lead track ‘the minor mystery of death’.
Krysthla are, and deservedly so, among the fastest rising stars in British metal. Their debut album, ‘a war of souls and ideas’, matched incisive lyrics to ferocious riffing and technically complex arrangements so effectively that it received ubiquitous praise and the band played to an ever-expanding audience before melting faces with an explosive showing at Bloodstock 2016. Put simply, Krysthla are one of those rare bands that unite metal heads across the board and, if you’re a fan of heavy music, you need this band in your life.
The great question, which is posed to all bands who dare to attempt a sophomore release, is whether Krysthla could possibly top their debut. Seeing as I’m not Chris f***ing Tarrant, I won’t keep you in suspense – they have and then some. Right from the start the band grab you by the nearest bodily protrusion and they keep a firm grip until the CD spins to a halt some fifty minutes later. Everything about ‘Peace in our time’ feels bigger: the production is crystal clear, and Adi Mayes (remarkably) sounds even more enraged, his harsh vocals dropping with even more grit and determination than on the previous outing. ‘The minor mystery of death’ draws from the same pool of inspiration from which Gojira, Meshuggah and Fear Factory sup and the result is explosive indeed. Neil Hudson and Noel Davis’ riffs and solos slip effortlessly between full-blooded riffs and more nuanced, atmospheric elements, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that in this seething cauldron of exceptional performances, Wayne Minney, the band’s astounding drummer, just edges into the lead with a display of such furious dexterity it’s easy to imagine drummer’s around the country hanging up their sticks in despair. The first track is no fluke, either. ‘Yawm al-Qiyamah’ (the day of resurrection) is heavier, darker and even more addictive. It’s a head-banging monster of a track and if you’re not a life-long fan of the band by the time the song reaches its conclusion, it’s possible you should be contemplating a life time of Celine Dion fandom because clearly metal is not the genre for you. The first sign of respite comes in the form of the echoing introduction to ‘Depths’, a song that moves deftly between extreme metal and stately progressive rock, seemingly without missing a beat. It is a masterstroke and it goes to show that, by dealing in both light and shade, a band can appear all the more savage for it. Based around a dizzyingly elastic riff, ‘make disciples of the nations’ spins around the listener like a metal tornado and, at its heart, Adi emerges to berate an unseen foe with a fury that causes the hairs to rise on the back of the neck. It is a bravura performance form all concerned, but it is Adi who excels here, his authoritative roar commanding the song throughout.
As the second half of the album drops like a guided bomb, ‘within the lie of all lies’ rises from out of a creeping bass line so mired in distortion it threatens to blow your speaker cones. Hard though it is to believe, the album seems to up the aggression quotient with each successive track and ‘within the lie of all lies’ reaches such a diamond point of concentrated violence and rage that it feels almost physically uncomfortable. The crystalline groove of ‘In death we shall not die’ provides brief respite before the band suddenly switch tack and explode into a super-speed thrash-groove hybrid that barely pauses for breath until the savage mid-tempo ‘age of war’ kicks in with the sort of riff for which metal fans pray to the dark gods of the underworld. After so brutal a trek, the album’s epic conclusion, ‘eternal oceans’, which clocks in at a mammoth eight and a half minutes, adopts a more contemplative approach. Whilst still heavier than a… well, a very heavy thing indeed… it slows the pace and the band allow a subtle melody to seep in through the wall of distortion whilst the stately solo that weaves through the track at around the five minute mark is awash with emotion. It is a fitting end to the album and, whilst you may feel exhausted, it is that same sense of satisfied exhaustion that you feel at the end of a long journey.
‘Peace in our time’ is bigger, bolder, more diverse and more exciting than a huge swathe of the music out there today. Satisfyingly extreme and yet entirely unafraid to show a more nuanced side, the band know and trust their audience enough to allow melody and depth to creep into their music when the song calls for it, whilst never sacrificing that razor sharp edge that made them so appealing in the first place. Intelligent, brutal and beautifully produced, ‘Peace in our time’ is an undisputable masterstroke from a band who deserve to be huge. If even an ounce of passion for heavy music flows through your veins, then ‘peace in our time’ is beyond essential. 10-∞
