The Great Old Ones – Kadath
Release Date: 24th January 2025
Label: Season of Mist
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal
FFO: Emperor, Saor, Gaerea.
Review By: Jeff Finch
It takes a special band to transcend their genre, so to speak; for a listener to press play and by the end of the song / album they aren’t pigeonholing what they’ve just heard into a specific subgenre, rather they are judging it simply by overall musical standards, genre be damned. Today’s band The Great Old Ones, with this newest album Kadath, has managed to, over the course of 73 minutes, create moments and soundscapes so intricately powerful and well written that by the end of its long runtime, the album is no longer being judged as a black metal album, but just as an album of music. And this album of music is stellar.
Black metal isn’t a genre that’s easily digestible for some listeners, whether it’s the insanely fast tremolo riffs, the near constant barrage of blast beats, the shrill, shrieking vocals, or simply the storied past that has stained the genre a bit, is anyone’s guess, because every listener is different. But what’s also different is the bands that can buck these trends and craft compositions that separate themselves from the stereotypical “black metal band” that everyone thinks of when they hear the genre: questionable production, shrill guitars, and an inability to understand any vocals. The Great Old Ones is not a typical black metal band, and on Kadath their ability to break from the stereotype, while also somehow still staying there, is a metal treat.
What the band does is craft experiences: not just songs, not just something to listen to casually and then walk away. No. There are moments of pure contemplation and longing, as on track Those from Ulthar, a subtle bassline breaking through the sonic veil, the band having shifted down a few gears from their intense and energetic riffs; or the cleanly plucked strings contrasting with the fuzzy distorted riffs in epic closer Second Rendez-Vous, the band has no interest in just bludgeoning us with power, something they do quite well for the vast majority of this album. But where they take these slower opportunities for themselves, they take them for us too: moments needed to breathe and absorb the music, the all-consuming nature of the compositions a lot to digest without a break for air.
While, yes, the band does checkmark the typical black metal traits, they’re done exceedingly well. The riffs have punch, they have weight, they aren’t all high and shrill like a prototypical black metal tremolo riff (though those do exist here, as well), they are beefy, tonally textured and brilliantly placed; opener Me, the Dreamer sees numerous pace shifts, transitions into and out of the groove, the entirety held in check by mammoth riffs that would make some death metal bands jealous, thrashy downtuned riffs transitioning into shrill tremolos and back again, the spike in noise a stark reminder of what genre we’re listening to. And what makes them punctuate so well, lending credence to the previous thought, is that lead vocalist Benjamin Guerry sounds like a hybrid beast: able to attain the raspy black metal shrieks that the genre is known for and also channel deeper lows, the combination of which, coupled with the bands penchant for penning long, winding, fascinating musical compositions, generates a punishing atmosphere painted black, every shift pulling us deeper into the Lovecraft mythos. Meanwhile, on Astral Void (End of the Dream), the guitars are played with such fervor and speed that one can’t help but equate the sound to an alarm going off, signaling danger and the need to either evacuate or take cover; it may be simple to some, but to dredge up feelings of dread and unease with a riff is mighty impressive work.
Perhaps the most impressive portion(s) of this record are the two instrumental tracks, combined to tackle nearly a third of the total runtime. Ordinarily not a fan of long instrumentals, I prefer vocals in songs and while an occasional instrumental track is nothing to scoff at, two instrumentals totaling 25 minutes on here is excessive. And yet, these two tracks, Leng and closer Second Rendez-Vous, are so utterly captivating, so adept at telling a story, squeezing emotion out of their instruments, (love)crafting the perfect Cthulhu companion, that it made me realize something that I never understood: how people could listen to instrumental only albums and talk about what they said and the story being told. How can something with no words tell a story? Like this. So many tempo shifts, highs and lows, moments of sorrow coupled with moments of joy, so utterly captivating as to render the long runtimes nearly negligible, as the world you’ve been sucked into won’t let go, and you don’t want it to anyway. These songs truly encapsulate a soundtrack to an overall theme: and since their music and overall existence is Lovecraftian, what they have provided here is the soundtrack, and it’ll leave you damn near breathless.
(4.5 / 5)
