(written by Islander)
The last time we wrote about the music of the Filipino band Kratornas (here) was in the context of their third album Devoured By Damnation in 2016. In a nutshell, we described it as “an electrifying amalgam of grindcore, raw black metal, thrash, and death metal” that “pours sulfurous satanic hellfire down upon the damned (and everyone else) in a superheated torrent.” And while we summed it up as one of the most raw and wild thrill rides of that year, we also found “impressive intricacy and dynamism in the songs, as well as jaw-dropping technical skill and manifest blood lust.”
Now, more than eight years later, Kratornas is releasing another album. Bearing the name God of the Tribes, it was mastered by none other than Dan Swanö and is set for a CD and digital discharge by Grathila Records in August.
You will probably not guess what has happened to the music of Kratornas. You may also have difficulty stopping your head from spinning off your body as you listen to it.
Kratornas is now the solo effort of Bruno Zamora, and this is how he explained and described the musical changes revealed in the new record when asked what listeners might expect:
I don’t know… If they’re expecting another “superfast brutality” or “sudden excitement,” this album will alienate most of them. Look, Kratornas is done. I’m retired, and I’ve been doing “fast” for the first 15 years, so it’s time to “evolve” and do whatever I want with it now.
On this album, I used instruments that were new to me, like a 7-string guitar for L/R channels, a 6-string fretless bass, and more. It will disappoint them because this one is NOT “fast,” no blast beats, no power chords, no distorted fizzy guitars — none of that stuff will be heard here. It’s about “BUILD UP” this time. If listened to loud, it’s ENERGY, motivation, and aggressive behavior. If you sit down and listen with good headphones, it will bring out a different “experience” because the mix is “moving and breathing,” if that makes sense.
Kratornas is created by an active person for another active person. It’s not meant to be “experienced” by some lethargic, depressed “dude” with “mental health” issues looking to experience some… “atmosphere.” Kratornas drives “function”: working out, contributing to the community, training, etc. I don’t get this “suicidal metal” experience. Never that I encouraged the “fans” to slump inside, watch TV all day, and eat Cheerios. NO! We sleep when we’re dead! If you’re a hyper person, then Kratornas is your jam!”
The new music IS unquestionably different from what you might expect based on the last album, though if you caught the album’s first single “Ravaged by Hurakaan” you already know that, and you’ll get a further idea from the lyric video for another album track we’re premiering today, “Evil and Plunder“, which is the album’s shortest song.
But before we get to the music, let’s turn back to Bruno Zamora for his comments about the words:
This is about the world falling apart, with endless creeping war and violence. “Demons” rise, plague spreads, and the idea of peace is nonexistent. The lyrics talk about secret societies and symbols of ownership hidden in plain sight, with people turned into slaves (as seen on the album cover). It depicts a world ruled by greed and cruelty, where religion and authority become tools for mass murder, and no one is spared from the upcoming slaughter.
Now, to the music, which is surreal.
In line with the raging words, the vocals are blistering in their incendiary screaming intensity, but what goes on around them is dazzling and also a bit bewildering. There are indeed no blast-beats, but the sharp clatter of the snare and crash of the cymbals are still attention-seizing, in part because the timing and nature of the outbursts is unpredictable.
The fretwork is also unpredictable. Above bubbling bass upheavals the shrill guitars play off of each other. They vividly swirl and glitter, spiral and dive, squirm and spasm, dart about and blaze. Other strange sounds speckle the song with their own odd textures.
The experience is exuberantly demented and exhilarating to hear, like a bizarre but still mesmerizing sonic hallucination and rightly described in a forthcoming press release as a “3-minute descent into ritualistic chaos and psychological warfare.” But the arrangement of all the song’s wild embellishments repeats and returns to them in ways that cause them to catch in the head.
As for the mechanics of how these dazzling and bewildering sounds were made, both here and throughout the album, we’ve learned that it was recorded without compression or metronome, and that to create such unpredictable riffs, Bruno “bought a cheap left-handed guitar, even though I’m right-handed, forcing myself to play completely differently. The riffs were then transcribed back for a regular right-handed guitar, making them sound completely unnatural yet intentional.”
God of the Tribes includes only four songs, but the opening track “Cursed Sky Serpent” is 15 minutes long, and the closer “Novena para Guerra” extends to 11 minutes.
God of the Tribes is available for pre-order on CD in advance of its in August. In addition to pertinent links, we’re also including Kratornas‘ lyric video for the album’s first single, “Ravaged by Hurakaan“.
P.S. The artwork at the top of this article is an excerpt. The full artwork, which is NSFW, can be seen here.
PRE-ORDER:
https://kratornas.bandcamp.com/album/god-of-the-tribes-gcd-2025
FOLLOW KRATORNAS:
https://www.facebook.com/officialkratornas/