Klogr - Black Snow

(CD Album Review)

****1/2
New Alternative Metal from Italy

Coming from Italy Klogr (Kay-Lo-Gar) walk the line between Hard Rock and Metal they evolve their songs around a big central riff and fill the cracks with tones of melody and Gothic undertones giving the album a rich dark feel, not that you would but the best way to visualize how the band sounds is if you watched the movie 'The Crow' and edited out the entire soundtrack you could replace all of it with music from this album and it would fit wonderfully.

The opening track 'Zero Tolerance' really bring to mind Prong, a big catchy riff that ties down a melodic structure with a big chorus. That's another strong point this band has is that they write big catchy choruses that linger in the mind long after the listen. The delicious 'Refuge' is a brilliant quite track the builds itself up and has this beautiful little interlude before it's huge chorus. The awesome single 'Draw Closer' sounds better then ever one the album.

'Heart Breathing' is a lovely grungy ballad for want of a better term. The album is a grower, it takes a few listens to sink in. you will listen to it and not think much about it up then a section of a song be it a riff or chorus will be stuck in your head later that night and you will have to through it on. It's not perfect, it can get a bit samey and it does lose it a bit towards the end but the albums highlight's make up for it. It's a great debut and when the band weed out what doesn't work there could be a classic further down the line. If you like the the more accessible side of Prong, miss the criminally under rated Cold or even later day Gary Numan you will love this. Beautifully dark Melodic Metal.

Review by Joe Denby