Review Summary: Changeless guardians of the Great Abyss.
Within the pool of commonly frequented sources for inspiration among extreme metal artists, the universe of H.P. Lovecraft undoubtedly stands out. As the band name suggests, The Great Old Ones from France have exclusively drawn their creative stimulus from Lovecraft’s mythology for the last 15 years and have taken significant leaps forward since their “Al Azif” in 2012, which was great but what followed was even greater. Even if we had to wait longer than usual for a next release from them, fifth full length album “Kadath” was totally worth the anticipation and it fully embodies The Great Old Ones’ recognizable brand of post / atmospheric black metal, in peak form and firing on all cylinders.
The tradition of focusing on specific novellas continues, as the title “Kadath” most likely refers to Lovecraft’s short story “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, which the album recounts in both lyrics and music. Following its events, the tracks also undulate between more menacing as well as melancholic melodies in a way that The Great Old Ones execute wonderfully. The record starts rather aggressively with the fierce first guitar lines of the opener “Me, The Dreamer”, yet the track twists and turns frequently, which shows the band’s versatility and expertise in their field. Also immediately noticeable is the fantastic production on “Kadath”, which allows every instrument to breathe organically, giving the weight of the compositions the justice they deserve. Amidst the fervent guitar riffs, one can notice perfectly audible and quite restless bass lines (done by Benoit Claus of Gorod), a particularly enjoyable element of the album.
Equal intensity as in the first minutes of “Me, the Dreamer” resurfaces in the beginning and end of “Under the Sign of Koth”, but The Great Old Ones do not rely solely on ferocity to establish their atmosphere. The record shines in its middle-paced sections, such as the amazing introduction of “Those From Ulthar” (which reminds a bit of Au-Dessus), but also in the few instances when clean vocals are used, like at the epic ending of the aforementioned track as well as in “In the Mouth of Madness”. As varied as things are during that part of the record, the closing track “Astral Void (End of the Dream)” expresses the same tendency but amplified, and has in its first half probably the cleanest headbanging moment of the record, before speeding up and concluding gloriously.
What pushes “Kadath” to last slightly over an hour and be the longest album in duration the band has ever composed, is the colossal, 15-minute instrumental piece “Leng”, where The Great Old Ones unload a hefty amount of compositional talent translated into outstanding atmospheric sludge, post-black metal (a brief moment of funeral doom is also somewhere in there, but it’s only a moment) with several tempo changes and a wondrous, memorable solo part in the middle that you’ll go back to listen to a second time on the spot. “Leng” is not the catchiest part of the album, but it may as well be the highlight. There are only a few minor issues I had with “Kadath” as a whole, for example the clean guitar / growling part in “Those From Ulthar”, or the one-minute interlude “The Gathering” right before “Leng”, but it is unlikely that this shakes the overall quality of the album.
The impressive streak of top-notch releases by The Great Old Ones is maintained with “Kadath”, which excels in all the aspects that make atmospheric black metal albums great. Finely produced and fueled by the appropriate storyline, the tracks are well-written, brimming with intriguing passages and exploring dynamic shifts that keep the listener locked in from start to finish. As the band keeps evolving musically, their works become more and more massive, and after one and a half decades of activity, we can confidently say that they are among the best of their time and style.