Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 24/02/2017
Label: Relapse Records
At times, the album crawls and squirms under your skin like a
maggot. At other times, it is an uplifting, celestial journey “Created in the
Image of Suffering” is one of the most daring, fascinating, inventive and
immersing albums to be released in a while.
“Created in the Image of Suffering” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1. Utopia
2. Deny
3. Shame
4. Hierophant
5. Worn
6. Manna
7. Hem
2. Deny
3. Shame
4. Hierophant
5. Worn
6. Manna
7. Hem
The Review:
Metal is no longer about excess. Colossal riffs,
blurry tempos and wounded demon vocals are still acceptable, but modern metal
is changing into a more subtle assault. Nuanced composition and sonic
manipulation define the forefront of metal innovation today, and these
contemporary qualities are perhaps best exemplified by the San Francisco
King Woman is fronted by former Whirr vocalist Kristina Esfandiari, and her shoegaze
background shines clearly through the album. Her vocals walk the line between
the ethereal and the ghastly, cutting through layers of dripping wet guitar
tones like a spectre flying through crumbling walls. Esfandiari’s haunting
vocals are best displayed on the chimy, airy track “Hierophant” and the
album’s slow burning closer, “Hem”. However, for all their
post-rock elements and astral soundscapes, King
Woman
still deliver bruising metal riffs and crushing doom, as evidenced by the
album’s massive opener, “Utopia”.
On the vanguard of metal today, “Created
in the Image of Suffering” is
an album that pushes the boundaries on what it means to be metal. At times, the
album crawls and squirms under your skin like a maggot. At other times, it is
an uplifting, celestial journey. But it always challenges metallic convention,
exploring textures, attitudes and musical practices generally not even touched
in metal. “Created in the Image of Suffering” is one of the most daring,
fascinating, inventive and immersing albums to be released in a while.
