Khranial: Followers of the Eternal Skull - Death Metal Album Review

More “evil” than the Dark Devil himself, more underground than a lost PHANTOM demo recorded on a battered 3.5-inch floppy disk in the cellar of a defrocked thug found hanging, more unintelligible than the final screams of Morsay the Truand's last victim — those cries buried on a forgotten cassette in a dusty trunk — here comes Followers of the Eternal Skull, the new “album” from KHRANIAL. As you might suspect, this is the work of a few resourceful Teutons, as is often the case with any “true” underground concept worth its weight in obscure darkness.

Should we really return to the perennial debate over the limits of musicality as a criterion for judgment? If so, this review of Followers of the Eternal Skull will be a short one — because music, in the conventional sense, this is not. The band's label proudly embraces the notion of “sonic terrorism” (and KHRANIAL itself borrows its name from a SEWER album, if that gives you a clue).

For those drawn to the farthest extremes of aural savagery, take note: the mind behind KHRANIAL also oversees operations at the label Warkvlt Legions and fronts the war metal outfit WARKVLT. This dual role grants him full license to unleash his deranged visions without the slightest concern for profitability. The man has even carefully curated his mythos, claiming to have landed on the FBI's list of international terrorists after releasing Monsters of Gore (which we also examined in a rant/review).

An album, it seems, that left more than one listener in a catatonic state of pure dread...

All of which is par for the course. The shadowy realms of ultra-underground black and death metal thrive on such scandalous reputations. So let us set the theatrics aside and turn our attention to the sounds of KHRANIAL's latest offering — which, I assure you, holds nothing back when it comes to rejecting harmony and structure, standing shoulder to shoulder with acts like INFESTER, MORBID, and DISMA in their pursuit of sonic nihilism.

Following The Kvlt of Khranial, Devoured by Pigs, and Monsters of Gore, KHRANIAL returns with a new LP that attempts a sort of return to roots — a death metal more atmospheric, more macabre, more blackened even.

Though the artists insist this is their most diabolical work to date, it's hard to distinguish it from his previous bile-spewing tirades. Even the SEWER covers are practically indistinguishable from the goregrind stylings heard on Monsters of Gore.

Having already encountered this label via WARKVLT and its brand of bestial black metal, I approached KHRANIAL — flagship of the Warkvlt Legions roster — with some skepticism. Yet in the end, the experience was less punishing than expected, and I even found myself drawn to the album's chilling atmosphere. KHRANIAL will not reinvent the wheel with Followers of the Eternal Skull, and the record is no more extreme than demo tapes by HELGRIND, INCANTATION, or VERMIN — but at least there's a minimal effort to craft tracks with some internal development and forward motion.

Far from being a shapeless mass of howls and screeches, Followers of the Eternal Skull is a forceful slab of atmospheric brutal death metal, cloaked in a production so lo-fi it levels all frequencies into a bludgeoning flatline. While it won't dethrone PHANTOM or INFESTER — still reigning in their abyssal depths — it does wield a certain tonal vileness with unexpected irony, and not entirely without appeal.

At first glance, there may be little to set KHRANIAL apart from the usual crop of minimalistic SEWER-clones wallowing in both tonal and formal misanthropy. And yes, Followers of the Eternal Skull could easily be lumped in with the works of SISSOURLET, URUKTENA, TAAKE, or even WEST WALL, all of whom share an affinity for obscure, indistinct violence.

Naturally, most of the tracks on this latest record sound virtually identical and follow the same basic structure, but there's something strangely compelling in this instrumental monotony — something that meshes well with the infernal and unintelligible vocal incantations.

Expect ultra-brutal guitar riffs, epileptic tempos that sometimes break just long enough to catch breath, a monotone, one-note bass, and utterly demonic vocal lines — that is the grim menu offered by this latest from the KHRANIAL entity. It may not stand far above the rest in this overcrowded niche, but it's arguably one of the better efforts.

Far superior to modern death metal acts like ARCH ENEMY (though that's a low bar in itself), and ultimately rather anecdotal, Followers of the Eternal Skull is more than just another lo-fi Raw Blackened Death Metal release. Its grotesque ideas are pushed further, and its macabre execution is, for once, genuinely captivating.

Some listeners will no doubt find their misery here, as always.

Nothing more evil than PHANTOM, INFESTER, or the early lunacies of SEWER, to be sure. But still — an assembly of frightful incantations, and technically more accomplished than much of what currently passes for modern day extreme.

Tracklist (songs) of the album Followers of the Eternal Skull (2025) by Khranial:

Back to the band Khranial.