Style: Jazz, Avant-Garde Metal, Progressive Metal (Instrumental)
Review by: Mathis
Country: France
Release date: 3 June, 2022
Ya like jazz? Well have I ever got a treat for you, or I guess Ckraft has a treat for you. I am going to assume you have some appreciation for metal as well; you are reading this on a metal/rock blog after all. Epic Discordant Vision is an avant-garde metal album with all the nuance of free jazz and the weight of a thousand tenor saxophones.
To give you a less ambiguous idea of what Epic Discordant Vision sounds like, I need to get you readers up to speed on some history behind Ckraft. Charles Kieny was abruptly introduced to the accordion at a young age. However, he eventually ditched the accordion in favor of more interesting activities. Fast forward a bit and Kieny had taken a liking to metal over the years, with bands like Korn, Meshuggah, and Gojira. He wasn’t even introduced to jazz until he attended a workshop at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris (Kieny’s Alma Mater), which exposed Kieny to the idea of spontaneity in music. The flowing composition of improvisational jazz, a river that always flows in one direction yet explores every possible alternate route, sometimes becoming a soft and graceful stream, other times a torrent of erratic and destructive energy. The freedom to reach the destination without a premeditated path initially sparked Kieny’s fascination with jazz.
In the years after his introduction to jazz, Kieny met many other musicians that shared his appreciation for jazz and metal, and together they formed Ckraft, with Kieny at the helm of the ship. Epic Discordant Vision is the perfect title for this album; it’s a grand feast with fifty minutes of harsh riffage, tenor sax leads, and accordion noodling. It’s in the same realm as T.R.A.M with the bass and guitar creating a thick foundation and the more traditional jazz instruments in the foreground. However, since Kieny is so captivated by improvisational music, Epic Discordant Vision is more chaotic and … discordant. Jazz is commonly thought of as soft “elevator music”, and most of the larger artists in jazz fusion employ a softer, welcoming sound too. Ckraft is different. The majority of their melodies are heavily influenced by Gregorian chants, giving their music a medieval chill. This unsettling gothic tone is one of the few consistencies throughout the whole album.
The other consistency in Epic Discordant Vision is the accordion. Initially, I didn’t hear it as often or as prominently as I expected but turns out I was hearing it all along. Kieny plays an augmented accordion which is essentially a standard accordion that can play directly to synthesizers. It’s like using pedals on guitars or presets on a keyboard. This allows for a very broad range of sounds from traditional acoustic accordion; from the minute-long solo in “Bug Out!” to the oscillating synths in “Haunted Axis”. It’s refreshing to see that the accordion isn’t just a gimmick for Ckraft. It creates a massive amount of depth in the music, whether supplemental or serving as the vanguard it’s much more than a scheme to entice listeners.
Ckraft is composed of musical monstrosities no doubt, and Charles Kieny is an absolute genius. I’m not a genius, however, and this creates a significant disconnect. As per standard procedure, I would typically go through the good, bad, and ugly of Epic Discordant Vision. This album is not quite standard or typical though; I have a hard time discerning one track from the next, and although it is impressive I genuinely can’t get into it. The entwining Gregorian melodies mixed with the abstract free-form jazz sort of blend the album into one large track. There are no softer songs, no heavier songs, no interludes, no guest vocals, and nothing that makes one track more notable than any of the others.
I’ll just say that this album is remarkable but doesn’t tickle my fancy. If ya like jazz, then you need to go listen to Ckraft now, because you will love them! If jazz isn’t your cup of tea, if you like more structure to your music, or if you like to know what’s coming next, then maybe skip this album.
Recommended tracks: ???
Recommended for fans of: T.R.A.M, Panzerballet
You may also like: Wax People, Peculate, Krokofant
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Independent
Ckraft is:
– Charles Kieny (augmented accordion, composition)
– Théo Nguyen Duc Long (tenor saxophone)
– Antoine Morisot (guitar)
– Marc Karapetian (bass)
– William Bur (drums)
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