If you even partially follow current events and things going on in society, it can be a lot to handle and definitely not something great for our mental health. Getting lost in that chaos is very easy to do, and I’m sure we’ve all fallen victim to it in some form, but that isn’t a portrait of reality. There remain good, bright things that exist in the mire, and finding those glimmers can be what pulls us through.

“Fires in the Fall” might sound like an album title that has destruction at its heart, and in some ways it does (it comes from a Robert Louis Stevenson poem). But Texan black metal/doom trio Krigsgrav weave in the reminder that even at the worst of times, we can find ways to discover hope. The fact that this band—vocalist/guitarist/synth player J. Coleman, guitarist/bassist C. Daniels, drummer/bassist/clean vocalist D. Sikora—enshrouds those ideas in music that sounds like a raging storm pouring ferocity onto the earth is what makes the record so profound. It’s an album that I have been playing on repeat lately (much like I did with 2021’s eye-opening “The Sundering”), and anyone with even a fleeting interest in atmospheric black metal and swarming doom will find so much to capture their imagination. This is a band that needs to be in more people’s awareness, and hopefully this album, their seventh, is what gets them there.  

“An Everflowing Vessel” opens the record with sweeping power, stomping and crushing, glorious black metal and doom melding and creating something mighty. The track is a total rush in the dark, bringing melodic fury as Coleman howls, “But this vessel is ever-flowing, the suffering is all but inevitable, ever-looming, ever-present in this place of impossible darkness,” before everything fades into acoustics. “The Black Oak” begins with tornadic force, a thunderous tear ripping into the place, growls wrenching as the energy spits out fire. Dark energy swirls and mars, guitars cut in and destroy hearts, and the blazing weight beneath this song is meaty and crushing. “The World We Leave Behind” heats up as the playing swells, the growls menace, and the coldness becomes a greater factor, chilling bones. “For I have lost the humanity I had, and now I shall be one with the earth,” Coleman howls, clobbering hell trudging and chewing, your senses flooded with chaotic blood. Everything then hovers as the band hits a slower pace, sorrow floods, and the final blasts bury you in unshakable darkness. “In Seas of Perdition” just crushes as the guitar playing leaves welts, absolutely decimating and playing tricks on your central nervous system. Destruction hammers away as the fires get hungrier and closer, lurching mashing destroying before disorienting playing slips out into fog.

“When I’m Gone, Let the Wolves Come” is an exclusive bonus track for the CD version, and it rampages before you know what hit you, bringing flooding melodies and scraping howls. Layered guitars lead into a massive engulfing of flames, the drama increases, and clobbering forces rush for the gates. “Shadowlands” begins ominously before the fuel spills and aggravates a blaze, down-tuned mashing making your bruising feel more pronounced. “Ravens circle above as rain begins, calling the words, speak the meaning, iron and absolute, howling beasts,” Coleman wails, feeling full of venom, increasing the ferocity that eventually slips into muddy terrain, retching until the agony finally fades. “Journeyman” blisters as the shrieks rush, and infectious playing gets your blood racing, the moodiness helping cut some of that adrenaline so your brain doesn’t freak out. Crushing force becomes an even greater factor, the fluid and punchy assault tearing through your ribcage, the monstrous push making itself an immovable object that only pulls back once it spirals away. Closer “Alone With the Setting Sun” dawns with acoustics, the solemnity increasing before the force chugs, and the band flexes. Everything continues to get more harrowing, the drums explode with delirium, and the wrenching growls pull your guts from your body. “Burning fire in my heart, burning fire in my eyes, the darkness I embrace, strength and fire my guide,” Coleman howls as the final build happens, the tension in your chest rises, and then acoustics release the pressure, leaving you in mist-drenched acoustics.

Krigsgrav star long has been rising, and it just burst into the sky on “Fires in the Fall,” their most explosive and complete record to date. This is an album that grows on you with each listen, its power unquestioned, the emotional journey you’re on turning into something you’ve never experienced before. This is a triumph of an album, music that illuminates the skies and fills your heart with an energy not encountered before that stays in every one of your cells.   

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/krigsgrav

To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://wisebloodrecords.8merch.us/

Or here (international): https://wisebloodrecords.8merch.com/

For more on the label, go here: https://wisebloodrecords.com/