Die Progressive-Deathgaze-Pioniere Kardashev kehren mit ihrem neuen Album Alunea zurück, das am 25. April auf Metal Blade Records erscheinen wird.
Die acht klanglich und textlich eindringlichen Songs auf Alunea stellen einen weiteren Höhepunkt für das dynamische Line-Up dar. Kardashev, die als Vorreiter des Deathgaze-Genres gelten, erforschen und erweitern ständig ihre Grenzen. „Words you could use to describe our music are ‚atmospheric, progressive, emotional, dynamic, and contrast,“ explains drummer Sean Lang. „Our music attempts to sonically portray the emotions of anger and sorrow which creates a palpable but natural dynamic contrast.“
„Alunea has much more experimentation when compared to previous releases,“ sagt Säger Mark Garrett. „It’s a very proggy album“, stimmt Gitarrist Nico Mirolla zu. „The Almanac and The Baring Of Shadows albums were the beginning of development into the „gaze“ side of deathgaze. Kardashev was known for their sonic similarities to death metal, but with Alunea, they’re coming closer to progressive death metal, with leanings in the „gaze“ only momentarily.
Music has always been a universal language, but Kardashev creates their own lyrical language, adding depth and meaning. „I’ve loved tinkering with languages since I was a little kid“, sagt Garrett. „I’m not an expert when it comes to constructed languages, often referred to as ‚conlangs,‘ but I find language to be a really interesting aspect of humanity.“
„I was dabbling in the beginnings of the language of Alunea years before we added it to our record The Almanac„, fährt er fort. „I would sit at my desk at work – a call center at the time – and make up interesting grammatical rules to pass the time. One of my favorites was having the length of a vowel add plurality to a word. I didn’t create that concept, but it was fun to play with. Years later when Nico and our previous bassist suggested I bring my interest in conlangs to our music, the vowel length concept was what I started with. It all grew from there.“
Alunea ist eine direkte Fortsetzung der Ereignisse von The Almanac und macht genau da weiter, wo der Song Beyond Sun And Moon aufhört. Garrett erklärt: „The first releases in The Kardashev Mythos were broad and conceptual, but they’ve morphed into something more granular and specific. Alunea tells the story of the main character from The Almanac meeting a being created in the song Continuum from Excipio. Their meeting is a philosophical examination of where responsibility and duty intersect. We don’t try to answer those questions, but we do examine them deeply in this album.“
Die erste Single des Albums, Reunion, ist eine Allegorie der Hoffnung. „Reunion is part of the imaginary mythology we have written for our far-off descendants“, erklärt Garrett. „Hundreds, maybe even thousands of years ago, our offspring will have their own stories of how life and society came to be. Reunion tells a chapter in this mythology in which two pivotal figures meet in open air. The main character from The Almanac, who is named Sky-Brother, has traveled across space and time to meet a being created by mankind to form a new civilization on a distant world. The track’s musical DNA is rooted in the sounds of bands like The Contortionist, Cigarettes After Sex, and Fallujah, with intense death metal aggression, whimsical atmospheres drenched in reverb, and a bigger than life uplifting melodies. Kardashev likes to think of the melodic story as an allegory for hope.“
Das Video zu Reunion könnt ihr hier streamen:
Alunea, das Gastauftritte von Sängerin Erin von der Band Genital Shame bei Speak Silence und Pawel JJ Przybysz, der Duduk, ein armenisches Holzblasinstrument, bei We Could Fold The Stars spielt, sowie ein Artwork von Karl E. enthält, wurde von Zack Ohren (Entheos, Machine Head, Demon King, Fallujah) gemischt und gemastert.
Alunea – Trackliste:
1. A Precipice. A Door.
2. Reunion
3. Seed Of The Night
4. Speak Silence
5. Truth To Form
6. Edge Of Forever
7. We Could Fold The Stars
8. Below Sun & Soil
(Vollansicht hier im Time For Metal Release-Kalender)
Alunea wird auf CD und in digitalen Formaten sowie auf Vinyl in den folgenden Farbvarianten veröffentlicht:
– White Black Dust (US)
– White Black Marbled (EU – Ltd. 300)
– Gold Black Dust (EU – Ltd. 300)
Pre-Order: metalblade.com/kardashev
Kardashev Besetzung:
Nico Mirolla – Gitarren
Mark Garrett – Gesang
Alex Rieth – Bass
Sean Lang – Schlagzeug
Kardashev online:
https://www.facebook.com/Kardashevband
https://www.instagram.com/kardashevband