Kreatur is truly an independent project. The band, led by Marcus Crede, do everything themselves – from songwriting, album artwork, recording, mixing, producing, mastering and manufacturing their media. Their latest album “Easy Meat” comes in various versions – the 13 track digital version for download on all major music platforms, and the physical album available on Cassette and CD. Both these latter versions come with extra material included. If you think “corporate” and “rock” are two words that should never go together, then you should be glad for bands like Kreatur, one of the few projects keeping rock interesting, creative and raw. Although their previous 3 albums were terrific, this one is the culmination of all the band has done in the past.
Indeed, “Easy Meat” seems to be a combination of riff-heavy stoner rock, an eclectic acid rock approach, as well as psychedelic rock flavors. The result: an album chock full of twisted guitars, trippy vocals, and eccentric song structures, and rhythms sure to please even the most discerning rock fan. The album fires out of the gate with the jangling Doors-flavored “Cocktail of Happiness”.
From there, the goods come quickly, as the first five songs are all no less than terrific. “Springtime in Hell” and “You Are Slow” boast two of the most likeably busy time signatures and wacky guitar motifs in recent rock memory. Maybe Frank Zappa came close to these kinds of creative eccentricities.
The drummer gets to show off his time-keeping chops on the dynamic “Falling In Love With The Last Person On Earth” while “Facelift” combines a thick, dark and somber Pink Floyd-ish atmosphere and a varied vocal delivery to great effect. Next, “Unwanted” introduces a growling guitar riff into the mix, and the result is just spectacularly infectious.
“To Tired To Be Fed Up” and “Black Sheep” meanwhile, boast timbres and tones so deep, you could fall into them. I know I’ve mentioned just about every song by now, but they’re all just so damn good it’s hard to single any out. Up to this point, the guitars are great, and the band’s assorted vocal stylings – anything from an understated whisper to a full-blooded roar – gives you a variety of sounds to chew on.
Now this isn’t pop or mainstream rock, so if you’re the kind of person who forms an opinion about a song within one minute of the first listen, “Easy Meat” might not be for you. But with a little careful listening, it’s pretty easy to settle into the creative meanderings that Kreatur offer.
The general effect is some ripping rock combined with lucid moments of intense and beautiful harmony, all of which are well-blended and symmetric. These songs are as clever as they are seductive, and twice as entertaining. This album is so fluid and each song invokes a very specific feeling. Light and airy tracks mixed with heavier sounding ones, leave you feeling mesmerized. Nothing is left out, and nothing disappoints.
“I Am Feeling It” is on a slow-burn as it emanates a hypnotic aura, while “Eagle Eye Nicholas” is driven by a dominant and resonant piano motif in support of the mellifluous vocals. A truly cool aspect of this album is how diversified it is; no two songs are even remotely the same. “R.F.D Easy Meat” and the closing “Suckerpunch”, deliver banging drumbeats, edgier lead vocals, and angular guitars.
The golden age of rock music is behind us, but “Easy Meat” is one of those recordings that still remind us what the genre was like before the world changed, and corporative greed ruined the music industry, by basing record production purely on marketing approaches, and not on creative aspirations by artists.
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