For almost a decade, Dav Dralleon has been shaking us up with his edgy electronica, a blend of darksynth and metal that's as brutal as it gets. With its post-apocalyptic ambience, cinematic approach and pronounced geeky references, the Nevers-based band's project has everything we need to get interested. After an album inspired by the myth of Cthulhu, the Frenchman returns with STREET KRVZADER. Here's the context: the city of ABADDON, under the control of the megacorporation VALHALLA and its artificial intelligence DEATHBRINGER, has been reduced to a huge battlefield in which several gangs clash. To defeat the most dangerous of them all, several groups decide to unite to create the ZANTETSUKEN, a cyborg samurai destined to take on the DEATHBRINGER. Cool! Just looking at the album cover, you know you're in for some serious ass-kicking.
If you were expecting violence from Dav Dralleon, you'd never have imagined that they'd take it to a whole new level. STREET KRVSADER is an outpouring of brutality that hardly ever rests, pushing its extreme edge ever further with saturated guitars and steroid-boosted electronics. Already present on the Frenchman's last productions, the metal touch is greatly amplified here, leaving the synthwave/chiptune side in the background. However, a few touches of synth are added at times to support certain passages (Metal Warrior, Zantetsuken, Vertikall Daemon), always with a hardcore approach. Dralleon proves that it's possible to be hardcore while remaining coherent and offering real musicality (hello GosT, that's you we're talking about!).
The title track, Deathbringer, springs a surprise by inviting Irving Force to shout into the mike; it's a hard-hitting, testosterone-fueled affair, with the smell of armpits and greasy hair. The album's few moments of relative calm (Valhalla Sektor 99, Quarter of the Iron Priest) are served by excellent sound design, giving the cataclysmic cyberpunk atmosphere a heavy, industrial edge. That's what it took to get through the almost ten minutes of Abaddon Lethal Future Shock. You know that thing in video games where, after you've struggled to deplete a boss's life bar, it fills up again and things get serious? Abaddon Lethal Future Shock is just that: the final boss of the album, the track that just won't let go, with rhythmic changes to the point of epilepsy.
Listening to STREET KRVZADER is like hearing the overexcited soundtrack to a video game of extreme brutality, and losing a few teeth in the process. It's the kind of release that's all too rare. You're not prepared!
