renkls Although it can be subdivided into 19 subsections, Krokmiten's debut album alpha-beta is just one, 46 minute track of progressive death metal. This sort of epic undertaking is sort of unmatched in the death metal field thus far, as 46 minutes seems to be the longest undivided track of death metal. But I digress.

This album/song is quite a monster, going through multiple styles and alterations as a progressive death metal piece would. The lyrics focus on religious objections and questioning the validity of religion through a scientific lens. While not a completely original theme in the field of death metal, it is pulled off very well in my opinion, focusing on internal thoughts and the ideas of control.

I personally downloaded the album/song free from their website, and I encourage you to do the same. It is packaged with an accompanying video of 46 minutes to go with the music. Seldom do we see such extra thought put into the making and design aspects of a release - and here the courtesy should be praised. The music is the only place where the band has not yet reached their full potential. While the album has been their first full length debut, they have very old demos out there somewhere in the big wide world. Anyway, the music does tend to get a bit tiring, assisted slightly by the less then perfect production values. But for a completely independent effort however, it is perfectly acceptable.

Overall, this is quite a great first release and effort by Krokmiten, and I look forward to seeing how they develop their unique experimental style in the near future.