Riff Analysis 071 - Krallice "IIIIIIIII"

[@diegosolares5492]

Me literally not knowing which song it is, since all the album pretty much has the same tittle in every song until i click the video and you show a clip of it. And i love it. Love the new backround too:D

[@nolyspe]

I see Krallice, I click (also, RIP Menegroth...)

[@omikhlephonon]

What's up with Collin's cave?

[@nolyspe]

@@omikhlephonon Closed because of landlords. AFAIK he's in the process of relocating somewhere else

[@paveantelic7876]

@@nolyspe damn shame

[@JimWitschey]

You once commented that your viewers are fans of a huge spectrum of wonky black metal, and people who listen to Meshuggah. I am in the latter category but you're slowly chipping away at my confusion about black metal!! Keep it coming!!!

[@trialbyicecream]

Same. That’s thall there is to say

[@Randinator]

Monolith of Possession is one of the most original metal compositions. Dimensional Bleedthrough is utterly transcendental. Would love to see you break down stuff from that album.

[@dosto233]

Holy sh*t. You are getting truly great at this. Kudos to you. Finding others who can actually hear these things and geek out on them is rare enough. Glad you’re sticking with it.

[@buddy.boyo88]

i remember being a young lad when i discovered years past matter. the opening riffs of the second song gave me an ecstatic feeling that stopped my breath for a moment. i never felt that state of mind again, it was the way chinese people describe taking opium : the first time you feel a high that can never be replicated no matter how much you up the dosage. they call it "chasing the dragon". i too was expecting that i may find a piece of music that will make me feel that feel, but i never did. i started playing guitar thinking that i may enjoy it, but i never did, i'm not meant to be a musician. years past mater is a distant pleasant memory.

[@auellaitaela8035]

Astral Mariner on the latest Ethereal Shroud does something similar to what you're talking about at the end. There's this huge prolonged section where it's just a 2 chord riff that the song just sits on for a few minutes, lulling you into a kind of trance, and then out of nowhere one of the repetitions has 2 extra chords added on to it that extend it into something transcendentally beautiful, but it only does it *once* before going back into the droning two chord riff. And that's all you get out of it. A good 15+ minute song and you get this beautiful progression just once for not even 10 seconds in a "blink and you miss it moment" right in the middle of a prolonged atmospheric section. It's so beautifully effective and being so miserly with something so beautiful makes for a standout moment on an album that's nearly nothing *but* standout moments of beauty.

[@DylanVinesett]

One of my favorite tracks from my favorite band. Thanks for doing this vid man. I'm by no means musically trained so forgive me: but I wanted to expand on your point about "riffs melting into primordial soup". The melting riff leaves this unresolved tension that carries over to the next section. Krallice does this constantly, especially in their 'first period', and *especially* especially on YPM. So not only are motifs being reused later in the song, but you've got this mass of pressure building throughout. It makes subsequent passages even more intense, regardless of whether or not the tension gets resolved. When (or if) they ever do bring the song to a climax, it's soo much more impactful as a result. A lot of times they don't and you have these mini-climaxes sprinkled throughout, which I love.

[@scottnoisecastle191]

More great analysis, thank you!

[@scottnoisecastle191]

regarding 10 minutes in- the advice is also for somewhat over-educated composers who want to write metal, aka me

[@scottnoisecastle191]

I think you can't get away from the pre-baroque influence of this music. Much black metal has this because of a lot of ambiguous dyads but krallice really starts to feel like something like gesualdo sometimes.

[@adnrewn]

My absolute favorite Krallice song. The last 3rd or so where it's just reverb'd guitars is so perfect. Very excited to hear what you have to say about this track.

[@stevesullivan8405]

My man your tremolo has gotten really really good, kudos Years Past Matter is my favorite as well - all these gentlemen clicking

[@Tanx913]

Holy shit this one is huge. Monolith of Possession is another example of amazing riff writing in the middle of a massive album. Amazing musicians

[@terbo2000]

Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into these analyses. And I appreciate when you rephrase things slightly to give us less-formally-educated viewers a second chance to understand.

[@manfredmar]

How awesome are Krallice? Have you listened to their latest record, Inorganic Rites? The riff that comes after that slight synth buildup at around 6:20 is so good. Peak Krallice

[@KMHoran]

Great video. I really appreciate your delivery, analysis, and humor. Thanks.

[@gstrfst]

YPM is my favorite Krallice too! Gotta say, I've been enjoying Synthllice so so so much, the bit after the long synth break in Porous Resonance Abyss IIII is one of the best bits of Black Metal I heard in a while.

[@radbradmusicartist]

Thank you for having an easy to remember channel name 😂

[@Jake20111]

Krallice deserves to be way bigger than they are.

[@yomuthabyotch]

it's just one guy.

[@AviIsAwesome]

​@@yomuthabyotch It is not...

[@patriciapandacoon7162]

was wondering when the next time I'd see one of your vids!

[@sktrid]

Such a good riff

[@EnergyChasms]

My favorite metal album ever! Also possibly their best riff.

[@_iao_]

best album to drive long distances to

[@insederec]

Seeing this picked apart really REALLY makes me wanna see you do Vektor. Blackened Thrash? Hello??

[@Guiquipedia]

Has anyone here heard the new Pyrrhon album? I got into them literally the day before it dropped and they’re great

[@sair338]

How exciting, didn't realise they've got new stuff out

[@TAAMetalWood]

Finally Krallice!

[@UraniumFractal]

Would love to see you cover By The Ton

[@tucker4459]

Go Be Forgotten fits better with the 3rd period. And is really good.

[@NamelessOne22]

I actually agree. Title track specifically where I think the instrumentation is the same as the newer era (one synth player and mostly one double tracked guitar). Would be cool if they performed it live at some point.

[@buddy.boyo88]

good morning !

[@vincecarpenter661]

Can you do an analysis on the intro clean riff to some things are better left unsaid the Tony Danza extravaganza

[@ryanwestikus]

wait... what about the awesome outro music during the credit roll...

[@viki2133]

What’s up, Doc?

[@omikhlephonon]

Can you analyse some Trhä song?

[@patrickbertlein4626]

I wish I could understand what the hell it is you are talking about. All of this is so confusing for me. Got into electric guitar a couple years ago, mid life crisis, its fun but I always felt intimidated by all this kind of stuff and still feel like its so far out of my reach.

[@TheSquareOnes]

Riff has two separate guitar parts. Both parts are built out of the same basic patterns, but they jumble them differently to play two unique phrases. The end result is that the harmony is kind of ambiguous if going by traditional analysis, but it still sounds very beautiful and consonant because they did a good jumble instead of a bad jumble. I get it though, music theory has a lot of jargon and concepts to memorize and this channel in particular is like jumping into the deep end given the topics he covers. Would recommend Signals Music Studio for a good place to cover the basics of harmony, might make it easier to follow things back over here. There's no real right or wrong way to approach music though so you shouldn't feel like you're cramming for a test either, it can be enough to just listen to a cool riff like this and maybe pick up a few bits and pieces of the theory that went into it. He probably isn't going to break into your house and quiz you on it at knifepoint later... probably.

[@vladilenasmusiccollection9309]

I think it comes with time and study (most importantly, putting learned concepts into the instrument, because that helps with muscle memory and ear training). When I started playing guitar (now I play violin, though), I couldn't wrap my head around any musical concept -besides scales-, and thought I could never learn music theory; nowadays I understand pretty much any hardcore, niche theory concept. Long story short: don't give up, learning takes time, but it's achievable, and worth it.