Andy Classen's Stage One Studio - Mixing, Mastering-, Recording Studio

Thus, for “Scourge of the Enthroned”, KRISIUN’s 11th studio album, the group decided to head for a faster and extremely savage record again. Clocking in at an intense 38 minutes – counting in the bonus tracks “Forged in Fury” was almost an hour long – it was also due to producer Andy Classen’s input that “Scourge of the Enthroned” became a real monster: “Working with Andy at Stage One Studio again, felt like coming home. We stayed at his musician’s apartment for almost a month and we all concentrated on capturing an honest, almost live kind of vibe and trimmed the songs harder than on the last one.” Located in the countryside close to German city Kassel, the landscape helped immensely during this period. “There was no distraction at all, that place is in the middle of nowhere and apart from barbecuing with Andy we just worked on the songs like madmen.” Once the album kicks off with the title track, KRISIUN’s newest opus hits with an urgency and immediate force that even harkens back to the debut! “You mean the ‘Black Force Domain’ riff in ‘Demonic III’, huh? That song is about the band and our history. After all these years, we felt it was about time we do our own anthem and a riff like that is a bit of a throwback for us and the fans!” In terms of sound, however, the band did not bring back the uncontrolled roughness of “Black Force Domain” yet had a distinct mindset when starting the recording process: “We interpret the album title as us being a scourge for all the plastic death metal out there. You are listening to human beings here not a computer! All has been recorded and played naturally, and while you can hear all details, it does not go for this ‘American’ sound that is so lifeless and sterile. It is a very organic and heavy album and I think that connects it with the spirit we already had on the debut.”
Indeed, sir, and it offers a whole bunch of highlights as well! From the Slayer-like screeching solo opening ‘Devouring Faith’, to the neck-breaking ‘A Thousand Graves’ and rhythmic complexity of ‘Abysmal Misery (Foretold Destiny)’ over to the album’s epic finale ‘Whirlwind of Immortality’, the latter being another track connected to the artwork by Eliran Kantor (Testament, Hate Eternal, Incantation) as Alex explains: “The song is about the Anunnaki, who appear in Sumerian mythology, judging the fates of mankind. Often they are portrayed as seven figures, we have only three appear on the cover since it connects well with ‘Demonic III’. As KRISIUN is about to celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2020, it’s only fair we now appear as horrifying ancient death metal gods on the cover, haha!” Lyrically, the album however does not dig too deep into myths as Camargo confirms: “We deal with religious fanaticism, war, and the tragedy of the refugees, who flee from the fighting in their home countries to end up drowning in the sea or being treated like dogs in the western countries. Reality offers a lot of topics to write pissed off death metal!”

Für die Produktion haben sich KRISIUN wie immer mit Andy Classen zusammengetan, welcher der Band den üblichen, brettharten Sound zurecht gezimmert hat bei dem ich wie üblich den Bass vermisse, der ansonsten aber wie die Faust aufs Auge passt.

“Scourge Of The Enthroned” ein typisches KRISIUN-Album geworden, auf dem die Band überraschunggsfrei, routiniert und auf höchstem Niveau ihr Ding durchzieht. Wer die Band bisher nicht mochte, wird auch mit “Scourge Of The Enthroned” seine Meinung nicht ändern, wer die Band bisher mochte, wir nicht enttäuscht. Respekt für KRISIUN, die jetzt schon bald dreißig Jahre am Start sind, immer kompromisslos ihr Ding gemacht haben ohne auszuwimpen und dabei erneut ein rundum gelungenes Stück unbarmherzigen Death Metal erschaffen haben.

Auf den beiden Vorgängerscheiben „Forged In Fury“ (2015) und „The Great Execution“ (2011) entdeckten KRISIUN einerseits den Reiz von richtig schwerem Midtempo-Riffing, übertrieben es aber teilweise mit den Songlängen. Gerade „Forged In Fury“ gefiel zwar mit seiner rohen Brutalität, doch manches Riff wurde dann doch ein paar Mal zu oft wiederholt. Das ändert sich nun wieder mit „Scourge Of The Enthroned“. Hier gibt es sozusagen das Beste aus beiden Welten: kompakt arrangierte Songs, die trotzdem die gesamte stilistische Bandbreite der Band abdecken. Abgesehen davon ändert sich nichts, schließlich haben die Brasilianer ihren eigenen, sofort erkennbaren Stil. Dennoch merkt man bei genauerem Hinhören, dass gerade Gitarrist Moyses Kolesne sein Spiel immer weiter verfeinert und besonders im Lead-Bereich mit starken Soli und Tapping-Licks Akzente setzt. Beim Sound setzt das Trio traditionell auf Andy Classen - auch deswegen ist „Scourge Of The Enthroned“ ein klassisches KRISIUN-Album.