Year: 2021
Total Time: 44:26
Label: Eisenwald
… 2018, “Elemental Fury” EP. 2021, “Dunkle Millenia” and the German duo’s first complete album. This is how the life of KANKAR begins, who originate from the small state of Thuringia in Germany and perform a diverse kind of atmospheric Black Metal.
Their effort opens with sounds of thunderstorms, which lead to some acoustic passages. Beyond that, various elements make their appearance and in fact quite contradictory to each other. On the one hand, they present a more primitive, classic Norwegian in-your-face early ‘90s Black Metal with dry vocals and even drier drums and riffs, especially at the beginning of the songs (“Thüringer Schwarzmetall”). On the other hand, we can clearly hear some UADA-like tremolo riffs, which give an extra dimension to their music. The melody is not absent. If you are looking for something like this, you should look elsewhere. Another completely different dimension is being added by a Black’n’Roll – CARPATHIAN FOREST aura that they present characteristically in tracks such as “Zerfall des Lichts”, “Krater in Sarx”. You know, this ABBATH style-party atmosphere. Finally, an epic / atmospheric feeling occasionaly makes its appearance to disorient us even more. The best part of this disc is the great, inspired riffs. Personally, I think this is the album with the best riffs in the extreme idiom so far for this year. The production is modern and well-polished, especially on the guitar and the bass. Not so much on the drums, which are quite dry.
And now the one million dollar question, that every effort of a band with a thousand faces, poses. Rock’n’roll, primitive Black Metal, Death Metal elements, atmosphere, melody. Can they coexist here? The answer is this: It is very likely that we are experiencing the very first steps of the next big Black Metal band, which is still searching for its sound and has not molded its ideal facade yet. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It is definitely something pioneering, especially for this genre. Definitely also something difficult. And the answer is that all of this is relatively successful.
We will close with some lyrics of the band. “Thuringian Black Metal. The strength and wear of the butcher. From the fiery echo of the neck of our ancestors”. This is KANKAR.
Rating: 7.5/10
Editor: Giannis Michailidis
Related Link: KANKAR – Official Page
