Above average death metal, but not much else.
With their oh-so-spikey logo, and an album title and cover combo that's presumably meant to scare the mothers of the youngest of their fanbase ('AssassiNation' - can't you feel the anger?), Brazillian trio Krisiun place the emphasis from the outset on brutal death metal. Kicking off with the expected mile a minute drumming and low, ominous riffing fused with screeching harmonics, things remain fairly generic throughout. Despite this, it's all done fairly well and is rarely actually bad.
Tracks such as 'Viscious Wrath' have an excellent, pounding rhythm to them, which, together with the expected acid gargling vocals, drives the song on and a rapid pace to it's abrupt conclusion. They also do a rather nice line in widdly guitar riffs, and example of which appears towards the end of the aforementioned song. These are never gratuitious, as is so often the case with bands who are praised on the basis of their "technical wit". But rather unusually, it was the drumming that most impressed me. Lurking there kind of subtly behind the guitar and vocal glamour is the skillful work of Max Kolesne, a man who seems able to hit things with sticks far more impressively than your average death metal Mr. Double Bass Pedal. Switching effortlessly from a straight forward and speedy aural assault to some more slow and varied stylings, the drumming was one of the few aspects of this album that I found genuinely impressive. Whether that's a good thing or not is open to question.
'AssassiNation' never really gets particularly exciting, like so many albums it just plods along, not really doing anything wrong, but doing little to impress either. There's the odd touch of something above average - a bongo based interlude to the final track (which, incidentally, is a Motorhead cover); the odd standout guitar riff; the drumming. But most of the album's forty six minutes consist of competent, but largely middle of the road death metal. Krisiun do what they do well - with sixteen years of it behind them, they should be able to - but they rarely (if ever) seem to strive for anything beyond that. For those who simply must have another death metal album, or who hate and fear bands who defy classification or deviate from their main genre's template, this might be just the album. For everyone else, this is a pleasant enough little ramble through violent riffs and pounding drum beats, but really nothing more.