17 years passed between doom metal supergroup
Khanate
's 2006 breakup and the release of their fifth album
To Be Cruel
. All the time in between did nothing to dull the group's specifically caustic breed of sludgy, droning intensity, as the three elongated pieces on
fit perfectly with any other phase of
's tortured writhing. Opening track "Like a Poisoned Dog" spends four or five minutes hissing and seething before locking into its structure, with vocalist
Alan Dubin
's screams signaling the beginning of the song's lurchingly slow ascent. It's dissonant, ugly, and unrelenting for its entire duration, taking even longer to sputter out and die as it comes down.
's dynamism is what keeps their sound interesting, especially as each of
's three monolithic pieces clock in at close to 20 minutes. "It Wants to Fly" oscillates between passages of formless ambience and downtuned destruction, insisting that listeners become lost and disoriented in its waves of pain and misanthropy. The whispering violence of the title track drives home the volatile power of
's grim return after being away so long. It's commonplace for doom metal bands to fixate on all things horrible and unholy, but few match the dire seriousness
conjures.
is another chapter of the band's protracted anti-celebrations of pain, and it's one of their best. ~ Fred Thomas