Review Summary: "Deathgaze" sounds damn good to me.
Coining new genres in metal is a tricky situation. There was the blackgaze craze of over a decade ago with bands like Alcest and Deafheaven bursting onto the scene and having mainstream success. “Real” black metal bands/fans dismissed it initially and said it wasn’t “true”enough. That may have been true at the time but it has really taken off since its inception.
Kardashev is a band from Arizona that calls their music “deathgaze”, a mixture of proggy deathcore, ethereal shoegaze and massive post-metal buildups and climaxes. Does the term fit? Pretty much. Either way, their third album
Alunea really hits the spot. The album is chock full of fantastic chuggy riffage, a soaring vocal performance and a heavenly atmosphere that draws you in from the very first second.
Deathcore and shoegaze are really 2 genres that should be nowhere near each other on paper. However, Kardashev found a way to blend them effortlessly.
Alunea is a perfect flowing album. The opener really gives you a taste of what’s to come with its catchy chugs and demonic growling/shrieking combo transitioning into a haunting and hypnotic atmosphere accompanied by some soaring cleans. The whole album follows suit, flowing in and out of each genre while a blizzard of riffs and brooding reverb hits you over and over.
Despite all of the pros I’ve given the album so far, it all fails in comparison to the vocal performance. Mark Garrett is the vocalist/founder of the band and his performance on this album should win awards. His ability to combine core-ish wails, extremely guttural death growls, black metal-esque banshee shrieks and operatic singing is something to really behold. The effortless ability to transition between every style is just sublime and worth applauding a thousand times over.
Alunea is an album that really defies genre placement. When people think of deathcore, they think about sterile breakdowns and monotonous vocals. This album is the exact opposite of that. It’s progressive and it pushes the boundaries. Kardashev has made an album that is worth the coining of a new genre. At this point, deathgaze sounds damn good to me.
