History & Biography Mike and Grams (who also sang for two years) formed Vosges’ Kronos in 1994 as a heavy metal band then as a thrash/death band before changing over to full-scale death metal in 2000 with a twist. The band featured Sebastien Oria on vocals. Kristof joined the fold in 1996. A demo called Outrance was recorded in 1997. None Divine and Kronos next released a split CD in 2000. The group sings about Roman, Norse, Greek and other mythology as indicated by the group’s name.
The band issued Titan’s Awakening as a demo before having Warpath pick it up as an official release. The band switched over to Xtreem and issued a second album in December of 2003. The band lost guitarist Tems earlier in the summer of 2003. A third album arrived in 2007. The group signed with Neurotic Records in late 2007. The French death metal band signed with Unique Leader and issued Arisen New Era in July of 2015. Three members were appearing on a band recording for the first time. Gerardin had been out since 2009. The group disbanded in 2017.
Bassist Tom is also a drummer.
Reviews KRONOS - TITAN'S AWAKENING - WARPATH
Hailing from France, Kronos (formerly Cronos) was formed as a thrash metal band circa 1994. It is remarkable to see them persevere and finally release an album so many years later. The sound is bottom-heavy with the bestial vocals and grinding instruments flying at 1,000 kph. There are quite a few tempo changes, but this is straight forward death and grind without all the juvenile outside influences every other band employs. The singer has totally guttural vokals and the band does not waste time with guitar solos. What would have helped the cause would have been guitar overdubs here and there rescuing the thin sound. There is an oblique reference in the biography about how the album is either a mix of old and new or a rerecorded version of an older album which may explain the sound's uneven temperament. Most songs have a subtitle and there certainly is no shortage of intriguing ones here with the likes of Warmaggedawn (Ancestral War Supremacy), Disease Of God (Ode To The Mighty Battlelord) and Bloodtower (Architect Of Your Grave) standing out. Check out the Death melody which kicks off Eternal Mindtrap. Fans will also find a guest appearance by Kristof of label-mates Depraved on the album.
KRONOS - COLOSSAL TITAN STRIFE - XTREEM
France's Kronos might have changed record companies, but one thing that has not changed is its commitment to quality death metal. In Fact, album number two one-ups its predecessor and raises the bar for all death metal releases.
Colossal Titan Strife - concept album one supposes given the correlation of the title to the band's moniker and debut album- is a pure death metal album that is above average in every aspect. From powerful riffs, to unrelenting speed to brilliant solo and killer vocals CTS proclaims its place as one hell of an album. The band, furthermore, insists on changing the tempo constantly to keep things fresh and banish monotony. Moreover, the quintet has adept musicians with impressive abilities who are actually talented enough to deliver on their intentions. If the vocals of Illdisposed, brutality of Fleshgrind and breathtaking guitar solos sound attractive, then Kronos has an album for you! Songs like the title track, Submission and Phaeton have everything for which a death metal fan can ask. Kronos' Colossal Titan Strife is a tour-de-force performance. - Ali "The Metallian"
Interviews France's Kronos is an ideal band for death metal
enthusiasts everywhere. The band, whose second album
was recently issued by Xtreem Music of Spain, won the
title of Album Of The Month here at Metallian recently.
It was time for Ali "The Metallian" to speak to Mike,
the band's drummer, in order to find out more regarding
this superlative act - 03.03.2004
METALLIAN: France has metamorphosed into the global
centre for quality death metal in the last couple of
years. What has brought this on in your opinion?
MIKE: Thank you for this question! France is finally
recognised as a country of good metal, even if it is
just the beginning, and I am very happy about that! It
is such a great pleasure. Many excellent French groups
have been discovered in the last decade by fans. I
think our country has greatly improved as far as the
quality of the music is concerned. The problem is that
we terribly lack recognition enjoyed by the more famous
scenes such as Germany, the USA or Scandinavia among
others. However, as you said, things are changing and
in no time France will be respected as a country of
metal because French groups are as good as those from
the rest of the world. I am thinking of Dungortheb who
play melodic death, Zubrowska who play brutal
deathcore, Inhumate who play grindcore, Depraved who
play grind/death, Mortuary who play brutal death,
Scarve who are an extreme metal band, Recueil Morbide
who play brutal death, Loudblast, No Return, Blockheads
and many more.
Anyone who doesn't know these bands should listen to
them in order to discover and enjoy the 'French school
of extreme metal.' I hope that we will be able to put
an end to the prejudices people have against our
country because, in fact, nationality isn't important.
What matters is the quality of the music as well as the
devotion and the passion of the musicians.
METALLIAN: More specifically, why do so many bands play
pure death metal in France when this art form has died
elsewhere, with Scandinavia being a notable example?
MIKE: Well, I think that is also a good question;
however, it is difficult to answer . I don't know why,
but it is true that brutal death metal is doing quite
well in France. Although I believe that it hasn't
happened only in our country. Indeed, this renewed
interest in brutal death can be felt all around the
world. Take a look at countries from Eastern Europe
like Poland, Slovakia or Czech Republic, South America
like Brazil, Peru and Colombia or even Southern Asia
and countries like the Philippines or Indonesia where
you can find a huge number of bands playing brutal
death metal. In my opinion, it is Sweden, and
Scandinavia in general, which are the exception. The
Scandinavian bands have indeed their own style, which
Can't be found anywhere else in the world. That's why
they are so easily recognisable. They have a typical
sound. Overall, I must admit that I am very happy to
see that death metal is popular at the moment all
around the world and I hope that this will last for a
long time. Everyone stay fucking metal!
METALLIAN: How did you personally get into death
metal?
MIKE: Grams and I started playing music in 1994. He was
14 and I was 13. We were neighbours and quickly got to
know one another and became real friends. That is why
we decided to play together, as we were both fans of
metal. Then we began to look for other members because
we wanted to create our own band. Kronos was born. We
weren't called Kronos at the time, but we played - even
if we didn't play well - things like AC/DC, Metallica
or Sepultura. Then, like every young band, we
encountered hard times. Finally, after several changes
in line-up and musical styles we began to find our own
approach to the music, which meant it became more and
more extreme and violent. As we grew older we listened
to more and more violent bands, mostly brutal death and
black metal, and I think that major albums like None So
Vile by Cryptopsy, Domination and Covenant by Morbid
Angel or Tomb Of The Mutilated by Cannibal Corpse gave
us the conviction that the music we wanted to play had
to be that kind of music. At last, we really began to
compose typical brutal death material which was
violent, fast and technical when Tom arrived in 2000. I
can say that Kronos, as it is now and as relates to its
future, dates back to the year 2000. After that, things
began to move very quickly when our first album Titan's
Awakening was released. At first it was self-produced
and then the French label Warpath Records reissued it
in 2001. That album, which admittedly was far from
being perfect, really launched us in the underground
and enabled us to do many gigs in France and abroad. We
kept on working hard and we finally released our new CD
entitled Colossal Titan Strife in December 2003. Now we
all hope that our career will continue for a long time
because Kronos holds an enormous place in our
lives.
METALLIAN: Can you please talk a little more about your
music? Perhaps you can discuss your intentions during
the composition stage.
MIKE: Well, firstly thanks for all the compliments you
have sent our way. I am very touched!
Our concept of music in general, and of death metal in
particular, is very varied and different as far as the
five of us are concerned. That is why it is quite
difficult for me to describe our style in a few words,
but I'll do my best.
I think we play classical brutal death metal which is
fast, brutal, technical and brutish too. Our first goal
is to play extreme, savage and brutal songs. Each one
of us brings his own ideas and influences. We all
listen to very different kinds of music which is why
you can find elements of grind, power, hardcore,
thrash, a bit of black metal and of Swedish-like
melodic heavy death in our music. However, we don't mix
all these elements on purpose. It is a completely
unconscious process. Finally, I must admit that we
constantly try to create riffs and melodies that can be
easily remembered even if they have been listened to
only once because for us, it is the only way to
appreciate a song. As far as we are concerned, we don't
like it when we listen to an album and then realize
that we don't remember anything at all. It may be
because we like to sing when we are in the shower
(laughs). Anyway, we always compose songs that we do
like in the first place, even if it may seem selfish.
When you enjoy what you play, you can more easily
transmit the pleasure to those who listen to you.
Well, I hope I made myself clear, but it is complicated
to explain how we create our music because it all seems
natural when we compose.
METALLIAN: Your answer is actually descriptive. Are or
were any of the band members in any others bands by the
way?
MIKE: At the moment only Tom is in another band. He
plays the drums - he started out as a drummer - in a
brand new brutal death metal band whose major influence
is the American label Unique Leader. I can't tell you
anything about it because I haven't listened to what
they do yet and the band doesn't even have a name.
No other member is currently playing in a band simply
because we don't have the time. Kronos occupies most of
our time. As for our past projects, Tom drummed in a
brutal black metal band called Dillemme. Unfortunately,
they never recorded anything before they split up.
Kristof sang in a brutal death metal band called
Bleeding which also split up before recording
something. As for me, I played the drums in a melodic
death metal band called None Divine, which was a bit
like Arch Enemy, along with Tems our previous guitar
player, Cedric who sang in Dilemme, guitarist Jean-Marc
and bassist and guitarist François from Dungortheb
which is a technical and melodic death metal band from
the same city as us. By the way, they just released an
excellent album entitled Intended to? through Perennial
Quest Records. Listen to it. It is brilliant. We just
released a split-demo CD with four tracks too. There
are two songs by None Divine and two by Kronos. That
band has now stopped because we lacked the time.
Richard also played in another brutal death band whose
name I don't remember, sorry. That was from when he
lived at his parents' place in the centre of France. He
had to leave the band when he came to study the guitar
at a music conservatory in our region which is the
North East of France. Grams is the only one who has
never played in any other band except Kronos.
METALLIAN: Speaking of members, there has been one
line-up change in the band.
MIKE: Tems, our guitar player since 1997, left the band
before the recording of Colossal Titan Strife. In fact,
we were no longer agreeing as far as the music was
concerned and the atmosphere had become quite tense
during rehearsal. We talked about the problem as we
were about to record the new album. All this happened
in June and the recording was scheduled in August. He
made his decision and left us. This has been very hard
for us all but we had to solve the problem quickly
which is why we asked Richard to play with us. We, more
precisely Tom, Kristof and I, knew Richard for sometime
because we had worked a bit together when he had his
exams and from when he studied at the conservatory. He
immediately accepted to play with us and to become a
full-time member. You must bear in mind that this guy
learnt the whole set of songs on Colossal Time Strife
in only a few weeks and he also composed all his solos
at the same time. For example, he finished the solo of
Infernal Worms Field two weeks before the start of the
recording session. We are terribly proud of him
especially when you consider the huge amount of work he
has achieved. I'd like to think that we have found
long-lasting stability since the atmosphere is again
good within the band. We can finally work in an ideal
setting and I think it should enable us to keep on
improving in the years to come. We will see it when the
third album is released.
METALLIAN: Is Tems in a new band?
MIKE: No, he isn't. Tems stopped playing guitar when he
left the band. In fact, he completely stopped
everything linked with music in July, 2003. I hope he
will reconsider his decision because it is a great
shame for someone who is so gifted a composer.
METALLIAN: Another change concerns your old label. What
happened to Warpath Records and how did you establish
contact with Xtreem?
MIKE: Dimitri and Karine from Warpath Records ceased
their activities as a label since the beginning of 2003
because they wanted to concentrate on a project to open
up a record shop in their hometown of Toulouse.
We had to find another label to produce our second
album so we sent several CDs with some tracks of
Colossal Titan Strife to extreme metal labels all
around the world. We received some positive answers and
we finally made our choice which was Dave Rotten's new
label, formerly of Repulse Records. We signed a
two-album deal with Xtreem music. I remember Dave
appreciating our first album Titan's Awakening. He
decided to believe in us and to help us produce our
albums. We are really grateful to him and we trust him
completely as far as the promotion of the album is
concerned. After all, he launched bands like Deranged,
Centinex and Deeds Of Flesh. So I think we can be
optimistic that we have reached a new stage thanks to
this opportunity.
METALLIAN: Before moving on, can you explain the
existence of two editions of the debut album? What were
the differences between them?
MIKE: Titan's Awakening was first self-produced and,
little by little, enabled us to make ourselves known
all over our country. That's why Warpath Records
offered us a deal to reissue the album. Of course, we
accepted so as to benefit from a worldwide distribution
and a real promotion. What's more, we had always dreamt
of signing a deal with a label. That was a dream come
true. Dimitri of Warpath told us that he wanted to
release the album with new artwork in order to have an
authentic Warpath edition. The artwork of the first
version had been created with the little money we had,
so we immediately accepted his idea in order to benefit
from a more professional and finished work. That's the
main reason why our album was released twice. I must
remind everyone of the fact that only the artwork is
different. The music is identical.
METALLIAN: In that case, can you talk about the two
albums? concepts? Are your debut and the new one both
narrating one continuous story?
MIKE: Our two albums are based on ancient mythologies,
namely the Roman, Egyptian and the Scandinavian ones.
Above all though, they deal with the Greek
mythology.
Titan's Awakening deals with these themes, but is also
symbolical for us as a band. Our name refers to one of
the last titans who reigned on earth before the time of
the Olympian Gods. This titan was the father of Zeus,
himself king of the Olympian Gods. The album is
entitled Titan's Awakening because it represents the
coming to earth of Cronos - also spelt Chronos or
Kronos - a malevolent divine creature avid for power
and glory who wished to rule alone on earth. However,
this title is also symbolic for us, on a musical basis,
because it represents the birth of a new band with a
desire for the conquest of the music world.
As for the contents of this album, our texts deal with
different stories from different myths originating from
different civilisations. As an example, we use the myth
of Mahkhith, an avenging angel who devoured children in
ancient Egypt, the myth of Sisyphus who was condemned
by the Olympian gods to roll a rock between two hills
forever or the amazing story of Attila, king of the
Huns who intended to conquer Europe. We also deal with
more philosophical themes such as the alienation of
mankind in the song Enslaved By The Madness or have a
reflection on time which rules humans? lives in Eternal
Mindtrap.
Our second album, Colossal Titan Strife, addresses a
mythological episode which follows the first album.
That is, the fratricidal war between the titans led by
Cronos and the Olympian gods led by Zeus for the
domination of earth. The record sleeve shows the fight
between a titan and an Olympian god. These events
happened after the coming of Cronos to earth as
depicted in Titan's Awakening. As far as the lyrics are
concerned, we deal here with Greek myths on the songs
Phaeton, Infernal Worms Field, Colossal Titan Strife
and others, Roman myths on Opplomak, Egyptian myths on
Aeternum Pharaos Curse or legends of all kinds such as
the mystery of the headless knight in the song With
Eaque Sword.
METALLIAN: Many do not see Zeus as a 'malevolent'
force, but rather as a god with two sides. Would you
say you are decided that he was unkind and evil?
MIKE: I think that Zeus was indeed a two-faced god, a
good one and a diabolical one. In fact, the idea the
ancients had of their gods was completely different
from the ideas that today's believers have of the god
they worship, be it Jesus, Allah or another one. For
ancient Greeks, Zeus was an almighty divinity who
dominated the world and ruled it from Mount Olympia.
He gained this status after the war against the titans
which we deal with on our album. Men worshipped him and
to make sure he wouldn't get angry with them and ordain
terrible disasters sacrificed animals to honour him.
That is quite different from the modern gods who
forgive sins and send their worshippers to heaven. Zeus
was an all-powerful god who doesn't hesitate to destroy
and kill if men disobeyed. That is why Olympian gods
may sometimes seem cruel towards someone they consider
to be guilty of something - see the Sisyphus myth for
example. Nevertheless, these gods are also able to be
grateful to humans and help them in times of war when
they consider them to be worthy. Such examples can
explain the fact that Olympian gods are two-faced. Now,
it is true that we mostly deal with their malevolent
side in our lyrics. It certainly gives our music an
aggressive and violent edge.
METALLIAN: In general, what is mythology's lesson for
us present in the modern world?
MIKE: The most terrible teaching that we can learn from
mythology is that nothing has changed since the ancient
days! Men are still at war with each other for power
and world domination. I think that it is absolutely
terrifying. However, it mustn't be forgotten that
mythology deals with supernatural stories so it is very
difficult to draw a lesson that could be applied to our
modern world. However, without knowing it, we have
inherited a lot from the ancient times, such as the
expressions which we often use like Achilles heel.
Although we do not know their original meanings.
METALLIAN: The band's approach is fascinating and
original. Are all you guys fascinated by Greek
mythology or is it just one of you guys who drives the
concept and the theme?
MIKE: We are all, more or less, interested in
mythology. I am terribly interested in it because I am
a student in ancient history at university. Tems who
wrote all the lyrics was also crazy about the myths and
the other members of the band are also interested in
the topic as well, even if it is to a smaller extent.
Anyway, we are all content to deal with these
topics.
METALLIAN: To say the least. Therefore, are the band's
areas of interest only in the realm of fantasy? Or does
the band keep an eye on current affairs and
contemporary politics?
MIKE: Well, we keep an eye on what happens in our
country and in the world. We are citizens of the world
so we think we have to take an interest in what's going
on. For us it is a big mistake not to be concerned
about what happens around us and we always try to avoid
that kind of behaviour.
METALLIAN: Seeing that you are also aware of the
contemporary world, what do you think of the current
schism between France/Germany/Canada, among others, on
one side and UK/US on the other?
MIKE: This is a very difficult question. I think the
United States should pay more attention to the
point-of-view of other countries before they lead with
their policy. America behaves as if they run an empire
and consequently sometime despises other countries'
opinions. Now even if there are stupid tensions between
Canada, Germany and France on one side and the USA and
the UK on the other side, I think we are all confronted
by terrorist attacks and we'd better work together
instead of criticising one another.
I do think that the attitude of some American citizens
is absolutely shameful because they spend their time
talking rubbish about the French just because their
country sometimes disagrees with ours. Any opinion
should be accepted and respected and the best solutions
to a problem can be found in debate and not in
criticism. So to all those who try to impose their
opinion as if they were the kings of the world, I have
one thing to say: go to hell!
I'd like to live in a world of cooperation and
fraternity between countries even if they don't share
the same culture because before being English, French,
American, Muslim or Jew we are all human beings.
METALLIAN: Thank you very much for your time and your
interesting answers. What are your current news and
plans?
MIKE: At the moment, we are looking for as many
concerts as possible across Europe to promote our
album. By the way, if anyone is interested in helping
us play, just contact us!
We also intend to release different merchandising items
related to our second album like T-shirts,
sweat-shirts, girlies, posters and so on. Finally, we
will start writing new songs for a potential third
album because we can't rest on our laurels, can
we?
Kronos is a band with the right music, right lyrics and
an attitude to match. To find out more about singer
Kristof, guitarists Richard and Grams, bassist Tom and
drummer Mike please visit the act's web presence at
http://kronosbrutaldeath.free.fr.
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