vote
7.5
- Bands:
KA'UNA - Duration: 00:42:50
- Available from: 05/26/2024
- Label:
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dunk!records
Not much is known about Ka'una: the scant notes on the press kit tell us that there are four of them, Belgians, specifically originally from East Flanders, and that this “Focus” is their debut for dunk!records, a label specialized in post-rock and related genres; browsing here and there on the Internet, we discover that they already have some dates under their belt (past or planned), and that the band was born from the need of Hannes Leroy, singer and bassist of Thurisaz, to give vent to his personal anxieties with a new atmospheric extra-death/black metal project, involving colleague Mattias Theuwen.
Ka'una's music is in fact a mix of post-metal and sludge, with ambient brushstrokes and psychedelic drifts; the pieces are very long and structured, full of pathos and nuances that can be grasped after repeated listening.
The atmospheric effect is certainly of great impact, even if there are not many variations in the emotions that these songs convey: everything is centered on resignation, melancholy, anger, with different gradations and a play of empty and full spaces that does not allow never to escape from this feeling of negativity. The plots are dense, the voice is a desperate scream that turns into a surrendering sigh, the rhythms are pressing and leave no breathing space, except in some alienating slowdowns.
A song like “Into Red” which, after a delicate piano intro, unfolds into swirling riffs and devouring screams, represents a harrowing and intense experience; “Resign And Lay Down” also starts slowly and then explodes in all its noise, but it is a more measured outburst, while “Careless” follows an opposite pattern, with the initial fury that is diluted in a series of braking, without these However, they become real voltage drops.
As often happens in records of this genre, the influences are clear, with the masters Cult Of Luna and Isis in particular evidence but also echoes of Pelican, and we cannot say that we are faced with something original: yet “Focus” is a dark and introspective journey by which it is impossible not to be fascinated, and which makes us hope that Ka'una will not remain just an impromptu project, since the conditions for a prominent place in the post-metal scene are all there.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM