If you’re unfamiliar with Zatokrev, imagine Cult Of Luna picking a fight with Crowbar, and the bands settling it by competing to write the heavier riff – and the result being as good as that sounds.
The Swiss four-piece are a raging, seething cacophony of riffy destruction, and their new outing Silk Spiders Underwater… is as thunderous a record as you could ask for – and Bleeding Island is the song that starts the fire. The accompanying lyric video lets you know that, yes, they are as angry as they sound. Watching this is a bit like coping with an existential crisis by trying to smash nearby fragile objects with your fists – vases, furniture, small brick buildings, cars and the like. Sure, it’s painful, but it’s strangely satisfying, and scratches an itch nothing else can.
But this isn’t simple bludgeoning power, as there’s a strangely epic quality that makes them sound impossibly huge at the same time – something like you imagine a Neurosis gig on the side of an Alp would feel like. Although scarier and far less wholesome than the vision of crisp mountain air would suggest.
The album is out now on Candlelight, and is one of the heaviest things you’re likely to hear in 2015.
Hurl yourself against Zatokrev’s Facebook page here.
And get the full punishment of Silk Spiders Underwater… here.
