Karras - the bright side of death

Karras from Berlin / Germany present their debut on a new label, called Maintain from Berlin as well. A look on the artwork of this record surprises, as there are no mean looking dudes, but only 1 guy plus three girls on the backcover. Death Metal from women is still unusual. The voice sounds a bit familiar, and a glimpse onto the one-sheet proves: It is, as this is Devrim from classic Berlin hardcore outfit Disrespect. On to Karras’ sound: This is part Death Metal, and part hardcore, with a a focus on the former mentioned. Luckily, Devrim presents not only growling, but covers a good spectrum of screaming and shouting, and with that already secures the quality for the vocals. Besides a lot of classic and sometimes melodic death metal, this has a good dose of hardcore roots to offer, being it various fast parts that sound more hardcore than death, or the beatdowns that certainly come out of tough guy hardcore and not from metal. The mixture is presented quite well, with good hooks, remarkable melodies and some nice technical details. Although this works well, the downside of this is that it was here before and actually is here quite often. Although solid and an impressive debut, this death-core is a good frist footprint on the scene, and of course has a bonus of having 3 neat looking girls in their rows, but has to grow a bit in terms of autonomy and identity. Nontheless, give it a try.

Label: Maintain Records

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