Review: Kaupe – Cognitive Dissonance

Style: classic prog, thrash metal (instrumental)
Review by: Dylan
Country: Florida, United States
Release date: February 19, 2021

If you’ve been reading my reviews since 2018, you may have realized that my post introductions when reviewing instrumental albums are…. repetitive, if you will. I always, ALWAYS say the same thing and I shall repeat again for consistency: Instrumental prog is tricky. Why? Because it is very hard to come up with melodies unique enough that are memorable to the ear, without overdoing it and it becoming complete and utter nonsense. So a band from the underground very often either under-plays (Resulting in the album being OK but nothing more than background music) or over-plays it (resulting in highly unpleasant senseless wank). I say tricky and not impossible because there are many bands who have successfully nailed the middle ground and brought up genuinely engaging instrumental prog releases (with one of them even becoming my eventual 2019 AOTY).

So the age old question is brought up, being… did Kraupe, nail it or did they botch it?

They nailed it! I don’t know if I’m being lucky but 2021 has not failed me so far. Kaupe has brought on my favorite type of instrumental tunes which are short, bite-sized pieces of complexity and intricacy that are engaging, and more than anything, fun to listen to. Cognitive Dissonance is both a fresh air and a blast to the past, thanks to its marvelous mixture of old-school synth heavy melodies and just a slice of thrash and Vektor-esque sci-fi element to create melodies that are bound to get stuck in your head with how incredibly catchy they tend to be. The aforementioned “bite-size” feel of the tracks does not mean that they play anything here safe, with every track feeling complete within itself but also functioning in an even better way when put in context in the middle of whatever tracks they’re sandwiched by.

Another magic element to add to it is that it really is an album so versatile that you can easily play it on about any occasion; background music, active listening, dinner-party jams, workouts, travel…. It has become my jack-of-all-trades album. The ONLY thing that prevents me from giving this album a higher rating is the fact that as much as I like the twist on the genre it’s not nearly enough for me to put it up there as completely groundbreaking as I have previously done with Step in Fluid and Etrange, for example. However, do not let this small nitpick prevent you from listening to it because if you’re even remotely interested in the idea that I described that best represents Kaupe.

Recommended tracks: Death Rattle, Cognitive Dissonance, Capsized
Recommended for fans of: classic prog, Vektor
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives

Label: Independent

Kaupe is:
– Brett Walker (guitars)
– Marc Larabel (drums)
– Pete Medrano (bass)
– Patrick Ross (keyboards)