Vetus Kran is a rising phoenix. When you have a pyre that melts two great projects to ashes like Iron Woods and Black War, burning them down to high temperatures inside an endless fire and Holykran pagan heart, Vetus Kran rises from the ashes to be one of most anticipated black metal albums from 2021. This is a coming back of one of the greatest creative minds in the Brazilian underground who made history not only with one of the greatest Pagan Metal bands that we had in Brazil, in the case of Iron Woods, but also through cold Black Metal with Black War.
In about 45 minutes of Black metal, “Lost in Time” make us feel like it could be a Black War album. We have the coldness of a Black Metal album, but we also have the epic passages from Iron Woods. What reveals that Holykran was the heart of both projects. Coldness and keyboards and synths passages are mixed to produce one of the more creative albums I’ve ever listened until now.
The album starts with “Where the Dark Cosmos Shines” and after a little intro the Black Metal comes and it doesn’t stop. Holykran put a lot of heart and soul in this project. We know that it maybe would become a new Iron Woods album: a thing that never happened. The incessant blast beats lead to a well-crafted, sophisticated, not archaic black metal. Raw Black Metal does not go this way, at least not in its entirety. It is mixed with emotions, with an atmosphere that welcomes you and sharpens its edges making it sound like a mix of the two projects we mentioned above.
The track that names the album “Lost in Time” has around 10 minutes and here we can see the mixture, the enchantment of a new blood that is rising. “Lost in Time” has an interesting instrumental passage, it’s as if we stopped in the middle of a medieval battle and we were waiting for the opposing army for one of those epic battles, until Holykran‘s roars again bring the icy guitars and a raging chorus “Lost in Time“. Really epic moment.
The instrumental track “Betelgeuse (my funeral in the stars)” gives a dark ambient moment to the album, which brings to our mind the creativity that we talked in the beginning of the review. The sequence with “The Pillars of Creation (and Destruction), brings an Atmospheric Black Metal that looks like a Dimmu Borgir track, something that could be in the “Stormblast” or “Enthroned Darkness Triumphant” albums. High level atmospheric Black Metal. Even though, it sounds grim and cold. The 90’s atmosphere is back again!
The next song brings something special, we’re talking about “Echoes from the Heart (Evora)” which brings an unusual and sentimental participation: the track dedicated to Holykran’s daughter. With its more than ten minutes it is a tribute to something worthy of honor. The guitars have a paced tremolo and it makes it different from any version that Holykran had thought before with the intention to use it in a traditional Iron Woods album. The arrangements are far from any Iron Woods tracks. This is the kind of mix of both projects we talked before. Where Iron Woods and where Black War starts? We can only accept that it came to stay.
The last track is a dark/ambient song “NOT 816“. The dark and space synthesizers give a modern aura to the album, we have an interlude that prepares us for the end, maybe this is how the end is like: a calm after the storm. It’s time for the phoenix to rest and prepare for the next flight, don’t take it so long to fly solo again Holykran!
Lost in Time is going to be released on August 9th with the ISO 666 quality brand from Hammer Of Damnation. If you are interested in true black metal, shaped by the 90’s standards, this is your next purchase!
Rate: 666
You can buy the album HERE!
You can get the CD + Tshirt + Poster HERE!
