Cryfemal are a Spanish black metal band and this is their latest release.
Despite it being their ninth album, I only got into Cryfemal last year, on 2023’s La Gran Victoria del Mal, and I’ve still got much catching up to do. Apparently there’s no rest for the wicked though, as the band are already back and raring to go, with their 23-minute new release Puro Carbon.
I’m unclear as to whether this is to be classed as their tenth album or an EP, (I’ve seen it referred to as both an album and a mini-album), but ultimately it doesn’t matter, as it absolutely slays.
Puro Carbon takes the vicious direction of La Grant Victoria del Mal to its logical conclusion. The band’s furious black metal attack has been focused into shorter, even more lethal songs, and Cryfemal are more aggressive than ever.
The songs are violent and hateful. This is 90s black metal driven into the ground and beaten to death with savage venom. It’s a necrogrimraw assault on the senses, blasting with ferocious energy and one step away from unhinged. Channelled chaos and unfettered feral darkness are what await you on Puro Carbon. And much punishment.
Puro Carbon still exhibits Cryfemal’s songwriting ability though. The violence they unleash across these nine tracks, (the last being a 22-second twisted burst of daemonic insanity), has a method to it, a directing hand that forces the whirlwind of blackened brutality to at least take on the semblance of restraint and strategy. I mention this to illustrate that these songs do have more to offer than simply pure intensity, although that’s definitely the prime impression they give off in waves. As enjoyable as it is upon first play, Puro Carbon is worth revisiting more than once.
Cryfemal know what they’re doing with this sort of maniacal black metal. Puro Carbon is hostile and fierce, with a vitriolic intensity that’s withering.
Thoroughly enjoyable. Highly recommended for fans of black metal that’s all about malevolent aggression.
Wonderbox Metal 