Kolp – The Outside (2012)

Providing a hefty dose of Black Metal structures with some punishing Doom/Sludge riffs, today we have Hungary’s Kolp and their sophomore release titled “The Outside”. Delivering eight tracks clocking around 40 minutes, the band leaves a deep wound with their razor sharps songs filled with interesting tempo changes and cavernous atmospheres.

If you like to jump into conclusions, one would immediately discard this band as another run of the mill raw and kvlt BM band with the opening moments of “There Was No Place to Hide”, the first song of this release. Upon further inspection, the guitar distortion sounds a bit off if we are thinking of regular BM, and the Doom/Sludge vibe that suddenly inundates this song makes it quite interesting to listen to. The following tracks keep up with this style, nicely shifting from BM hellish sections into droning passages of powerful riffing and martial drumming.

With a character named ‘Jim Jones’ on vocals, his deranged Sludgy screams fit very well the general vibe of the music and step up to the plate when it comes to achieving harsher levels of brutality in the faster sections. Our favorite track of this release is the monumental “Completion”, a song that features a very slow and painful pace and equally crushing vocals. The band does a great job in slowing things down and delivers perfectly timed riffs to keep the flow of the song intact, very efficient combination of BM and Doom indeed.

As the album winds down, “Interface has Dissolved” and “The Outside” keep the riffing machine flowing and combined with a pounding bass guitar line, both of these songs pack enough energy to keep the listener fully engaged and slowly headbanging to this ritualistic sound. The band’s guitar distortion is excellent and will surely fill your speakers with hate and energy.

Overall, we have to say that Kolp does a great job at crafting and executing powerful tracks that while not as violent as one might expect, the distortion and perfect timing of the tempo changes makes them very intense and devastating. If you are looking for something that is both powerful and nicely paced, be sure to check out “The Outside”, we are sure you won’t regret it.

Release: November 12th, 2012

Genre: Black Metal / Doom / Sludge

Country: Hungary