Craft - White Noise and Black Metal (2018)

Void arrived at a six-year gulf from its predecessor Fuck the Universe, and inevitably became a bit of a disappointment, if not remotely bad. White Noise and Black Metal, however, came after a seven-year break in studio releases, the longest wait in their career (until now, as we are approaching 8 years and counting); and I feel like this time must have been well spent since the songwriting and energy is quite refreshed. It plays within the same ballpark as their other material, but it doesn't feel quite so drudging or dreary as Void did, there's a more adventurous sense to the guitar riffing, and a lot more tasteful detail through repeated listening. Craft is an interesting band, because they are simple and easy to grasp, but their albums are always growers (one shrinker), and when White Noise and Black Metal came out, I picked up the CD, enjoyed it well enough, but didn't think much about it until the ensuing years of spins.

Today, I think it's pretty awesome. The sound is a little less bulky than its predecessor, I'd hate to say 'graceful' or 'vibrant' with a band as apocalyptic and evil as these Swedes, but a lot of the guitar tone is lighter and gives a higher-pitched feel, and that's where a lot of those details are. They are still largely a band that moves at that slower pace, and you get some killer churn riffs like in "Again" or the awesome "Darkness Falls". However, that space is filled in better here, especially by Daniel Moilanen's drumming, which is by far the most interesting that has appeared on a Craft record. While I wouldn't go so far as to call this material 'progressive', he certainly adds an element of that flexibility that he's brought to the recent streak of Katatonia releases, and it's another way in which White Noise stands out against the back catalogue. But the Joakim and John also keep the guitars interesting, with a bag of new BM tricks that poke through most of the tunes, and the added spaciousness to the mix and composition also allows the bass to have a stronger supporting role, a shadow thundering beneath the more ethereal guitars.

Nox does what he always does, one of the most formidably vile of the Swedish BM front-men, but again the scope of this album allows for his rasps to cascade about the atmosphere and create a lasting, resonant impact. The lyrics have been pretty top notch since the third album, but here they take on a more introspective feel, dark and ponderous but not as cliched or Satanic and anti-human as they were in the formative years. White Noise and Black Metal is a heater, and though it took some years to properly dig in, I'd now award it the silver metal, standing on the abyssal podium to the right of Fuck the Universe, with Terror Propaganda in the bronze. Great Swedish black metal that scratches the itch of their earlier work while giving you a lot more to think about.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

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