Album Review: Krysthla – Worldwide Negative (PHD)

The British extreme metal band Krysthla have announced details of their follow-up to 2017’s critically acclaimed ‘Peace In Our Time’, an album which saw the Northamptonshire metal group hit the number two slot in Amazon’s rock and metal chart alongside Mastodon and While She Sleeps.

Speaking about the band’s return, producer and Krysthla guitarist Neil Hudson says:

We are extremely excited to finally reveal details about our new album, ‘Worldwide Negative’. We always push ourselves to the limit when producing new music, but this upcoming release exceeded what we thought we had in the tank. It’s been an exhaustive but exhilarating process! ‘Worldwide Negative’ is an album with more of an introspective view towards ourselves as the human race, how we impact the world and each other. In the pursuit of happiness, safety and security we’re slowly destroying our sense of empathy and giving in to a darker way of life that ultimately can only end in misery.

Krysthla’s third studio album,‘Worldwide Negative, will be released on the 16th August 2019 via PHD.

Expectations are high and the pressure is on but you wouldn’t know it listening to Worldwide Negative. The absolute ease that Krysthla fly through an album of gritty heaviness, one that burrows under the skin and into the brain. Before we get into the detailed stuff, we feel compelled to tell you that this is a banger. One of the strongest albums heard this year and easily Krysthla’s most accomplished work to date.

Worldwide Negative is an accomplishment. From top to bottom it fills any and all voids with an incredible showcase of metal. Is it heavy? Absolutely. Is it challenging? Absolutely. Is it complex but not distressingly so? Absolutely. Should you stop reading and go pick it up? Abso-fucking-lutely.

It’s Negative that explodes out of the gates first, a beckoning riff setting up for a shockingly fast drum beat before the vocals spits fire and fury. Savage, more so in the verses but the chorus is so damn catchy. It’s going to be a hell of a live track.

Up next is Reawaken and woah, what a track this. The heft of the riffing and drum work is powerful enough to knock a gorilla on its ass. It gives off a really dark vibe, like a warning of things to come, that fills the mind and soul until all you want to do is circle pit. The momentary clean singing is a lovely bonus too.

Warmed up? Good because Krysthla are only getting started. It’s time for savagery and intensity with Grief is New Love. An incredible showcase of vocals, threading the line between control and chaos perfectly. The soundtrack to brutality. A violent assault on the senses and heavy enough to break bones. All of this across 7 minutes and it never gets boring, how could it?! Not when the last few minutes are some unbelievable wild guitars and drums hammering out the rhythm together.

Zero Sum Game has been out for a while now and with so much time to sit, you have to wonder if it’s gonna come across a little lethargic by comparison. Of course, that’s certainly not the case as the roaring ferocity is still just as exciting and the cleanly sung chorus makes for a nice change of pace.

Over halfway through the album now and there is no signs of Krysthla slowing down. Quite the opposite in fact as White Castles and Psalm of Heartlessness deliver two more hefty tomes of heaviness. The former giving us the weightiest of drum beats, the most feral sounding of vocals and sharpest of riffing. Even a more scaled back segment exudes poise and threat. While the latter is a technical sounding beast, savagery pouring from every note and beat. A good shout for the heaviest track on the album.

This incredible effort continues with the sour and chunkier riffing of Aurea Mediocritas. The feeling of crushing weight bearing down until you’re ready to beg for forgiveness. It’s harsh, it’s rough and it’s designed to leave everyone that hears it in just a slightly darker mood. The breakdown in the latter half will cause a spontaneous eruption of head-banging wherever it is heard.

Finally it is The Gift that wraps up Worldwide Negative. One more whirlwind of machine-gun fire drumming, riffs that scrap the flesh from bones and vocals that sear the wounds. It’s a hell of a strong closer on an album without a bad track. Hell, an album without a track that drops below ‘good’. It’s a game changer and we’ll be very surprised if it doesn’t push Krysthla to even higher heights.

Krysthla – Worldwide Negative Full Track Listing:

1. Negative
2. Reawaken
3. Grief Is New Love
4. Zero Sum Game
5. White Castles
6. Psalm Of Heartlessness
7. Aurea Mediocritas
8. The Gift

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