Review: Kardashev – The Baring of Shadows [EP]

Style: deathcore, progressive metal, shoegaze (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Holy Fawn, Fallujah (for the atmospheric heaviness), Deafheaven (for the -gaze)
Review by: Chris
Country: Arizona, United States
Release date: 15 May 2020

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published in the May 2020 Part 1 issue of The Progressive Subway.]

It’s not often that an album feels exactly like what a band tells you it is supposed to be about. It’s even rarer still that you get that feeling without having read or been told what to expect. The Baring of Shadows by Kardashev is one of those rare true expressions of a feeling, in this case pain, and it is a wonderful expansion of that feeling. To be completely candid, Kardashev’s last release The Almanac is in my top 10 all time played albums. As such I was greatly anticipating this release.

For those who may have already been a bit familiar with this band, The Baring of Shadows definitely leans even more into the -gaze elements that began permeating a lot in The Almanac. “A Frame. A Light” opens the album with a very soft reverb-laden guitar part with a very spaced out drum beat, before dropping you into the heaviness backed by higher tremolo guitars. Moments later their vocalist Mark Garrett finally lets loose his absolutely angelic voice married with his own dark growls in accompaniment. His voice stays as a true highlight of this EP and this band, and he has continued to back my personal claim that he is one of the most versatile vocalists in the genre right now with his range of low deathcore growls to absolutely beautiful cleans. Moments after this first vocal eruption, we are led back down toa laid-back slow pace. This EP very much lives on a cyclical feeling of returning to a place of rest in this way throughout. Personally I found this to be partly due to a particular drum beat I noticed crops up multiple times in the more laid-back parts. 

The addition of the bassist from Holy Fawn into the mix the slight influence creep definitely shows up in a few of the slower heavy moments and really helps lend more to the deathgaze pattern of the EP. However, soon into the second track “Snow-Sleep” you are reminded of their progressive deathcore roots with a couple passages that probably could have felt decently at home on Exoplanet by The Contortionist. The key though to this EP is the cycle, the ups and downs between the posty lows and heavy death-tinged highs. “Snow-Sleep” really takes this to heart and consistently guides you between the two. Though even in the heaviness there is a distinct atmosphere continuing to permeate, and in the atmospheric light parts there is always a sense of heaviness either lurking on the horizon or begging to be let out from underneath. While admittedly a sucker for the heavy atmosphere parts, in this release I most enjoyed the more laidback moments where the drums and vocals seemed to be the real guiding voices instead of the guitars and bass. A good example of this is 2 minutes or so into “Torchpassing” where the drums are just blasting away over completely washed post-rock guitars and a soft warm vocal line. 

My only real critiques of this release are the heavy tone still being a bit grating to my ears sometimes (at this point I would accept it’s a personal taste choice that just isn’t always my favorite) and that there are moments that felt like more highs were being teased or needed to resolve tensions and none came. These are small critiques though and Kardashev have really provided something nice and unique here and I can’t wait for the next one.

Recommended tracks: Listen to the whole thing you nerd
You may also like: Hands of Despair, Dead to a Dying World, Warforged
Final verdict: 9/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Metal Blade Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Kardashev is:
– Mark Garrett (vocals)
– Nico Mirolla (guitars)
– Alexander Adin Rieth (bass)
– Sean Lang (drums)