Style: atmospheric black metal, post-black metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Altar of Plagues, Blut Aus Nord, Wolves in the Throne Room
Country: France
Release date: 24 January 2025
Sometimes, you find an album with a concept you connect to deeply through music’s unmatched ability to convey a shared, familiar human experience. Other times, you find Kadath.
Atmospheric black metallers The Great Old Ones’ latest LP journeys the listener through a soundscape influenced by H.P. Lovecraft’s novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, a work about which I know nothing. My knowledge of Lovecraft’s universe is limited to the sporadic bits and pieces I’ve picked up subconsciously from the numerous other bands that draw upon his lore. So far, all I’ve put together is that there’s a giant, cosmic squid-like creature, or maybe several. But, no matter the inspiration or one’s familiarity with it, an hour-long record leaning heavily on the atmosphere it creates can be a captivating experience—or, perhaps more likely, it can be a tedious slog. Unsure of its literary underpinnings but excited nevertheless, I dive in to find out which way Kadath sways.1
With an apparent urge to let you know the album’s title right away, the vocalist screams ‘Kadath!’ not fifteen seconds into the opening track, and a grim, guitar-driven surge follows. Evident immediately is the production, which, almost paradoxically, is thick and full while also being spacious, with plenty of room for each instrument to breathe. The result balances the spectral and the material: the sound’s smooth outer edges glisten evocatively and its heavy center pulses palpably. While the band’s more dissonant contemporaries (especially Blut Aus Nord) might look to suffocate the listener within the nightmares they create, The Great Old Ones leave space open to wander amongst Kadath’s horrors. Either approach, of course, can be done successfully, and the rich, darkened expanse created as soon as the needle drops bodes well for the rest of the album.
A striking atmosphere and production mean little if not filled with strong compositions, and on this Kadath also delivers. More than anything, the record is a glowing testament to the power of plain ol’ riffing: if you want to nod along to melodic mid-pacers, check “The Mouth of Madness”; if you’d rather risk damaging your neck, “Those from Ulthar” provides some heft; go ahead and bounce around to the groovy triplets and folkier flourishes found throughout “Me, the Dreamer”; or you could roll with the blackened tremolos in “Under the Sign of Koth”—the choice is yours. A lot of riffs can be stuffed into an hour of music, and The Great Old Ones make sure that each of theirs hits. Better still, melodic and atmospheric leads are often placed gracefully on top of the riffs below, further accentuating the album’s ‘spectral yet material’ aura. Another point for ‘captivating experience.’
Kadath isn’t just about the guitars: the drumming showcases rhythmic variety that keeps the compositions fresh while also offering plenty of its own character, and an active and audible bass slithers its way across all the tracks. If you check in on the rhythm section at any point in the album, one member (or both) is bound to be doing something interesting; neither spends much time simply going through the motions. Meanwhile, the vocalist’s coarse howls ring out in a style befitting (I imagine) of Lovecraftian horror, but the performance could be more dynamic—the vocals remain monotone for the most part, providing emphasis by dragging out certain words or syllables rather than by changing in tone or emotion.
Any journey through the album would be incomplete without stopping to mention its figurative centerpiece: the penultimate track “Leng,” a fifteen-minute instrumental behemoth. For me, a ‘fifteen-minute instrumental behemoth’ would typically tip an album decidedly toward ‘tedious slog,’ but The Great Old Ones’ talent for crafting engaging compositions makes the track anything but tedious. “Leng” puts on display all the band has to offer: it’s simultaneously Kadath’s most pummeling, delicate, atmospheric, rhythmically dynamic, and instrumentally accomplished track—seriously, go listen for yourself. The last instrumental epic I remember truly enjoying was “Plateau of the Ages” from Agalloch’s The Serpent & The Sphere, released more than a decade ago. “Leng” is even better.
If you couldn’t tell, I quite enjoy the sonic landscape that Kadath creates, but I wish the journey through it were a little shorter. Despite the dynamic instrumentation and compositions, I sometimes find myself drifting—possibly because Kadath’s overarching feel, while crafted excellently, doesn’t expand far beyond what you get in the album’s first few minutes. Although I’d prefer the album trimmed to fifty minutes, I wouldn’t want to be the one holding the shears. No passages immediately come to mind as superfluous, and each track has an identity distinct enough to warrant its inclusion.
On the whole, Kadath leans resoundingly toward ‘captivating’ rather than ‘tedious.’ It’s an atmospheric success with a compositional and instrumental prowess strong enough to keep the journey compelling. Even without any knowledge of the Lovecraftian world from which the album spawned, I’ll gladly (and ignorantly2) return to Kadath for another trip.
Recommended tracks: Leng; Me, the Dreamer
You may also like: Thy Darkened Shade, Inter Arma, Sulphur Aeon
Final verdict: 7.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Season of Mist – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
The Great Old Ones is:
– Benjamin Guerry (guitars, vocals)
– Aurélien Edouard (guitars)
– Alexandre Rouleau (guitars)
– Gregory Vouillat (bass)
– Julian Deana (drums)
