(Below you will find Didrik Mešiček‘s review of the newest and soon-to-be-released album by the Austrian band Karg.)
Austria is not a name we typically associate with a thriving metal scene, but in the last decade or so quite a few new-ish bands have been popping up, generally delivering a fairly black metal sound, often depressive, sometimes hopelessly romantic. Karg is another one of those bands coming from the small Austrian scene where it seems most people know each other. The band has had a nearly complete lineup change in 2018 and this will be their 9th full-length album already despite remaining fairly obscure. Marodeur will be released on AOP Records on the 18th of April.
photos by Aleksandar Kos
Naturally, now in my old age of 30, I’m delighted that we’re getting warmer weather and that the wintery sorrow is more or less over. However, from the moment one gazes upon the cover of this album it feels as if the bony fingers of cold death are pulling you back into the midst of harsh winter. “Schnee is das Blut der Geister” (Snow is the blood of spirits) reinforces that idea and introduces familiar vocals, as this band is fronted by V. Wahntraum, who most of you will recognise as J. J., the vocalist of Harakiri for the Sky. As I said, this is a local scene that’s highly intertwined. His typical vocal delivery is very much present, but it does seem to have a bleaker note; whereas Harakiri’s unfortunate romance motifs can seem a bit juvenile, Karg’s are seemingly more serious.
Instrumentally, this is a really solid album and it offers a good amount of melodic riffage, contrasting the desperation of the vocals. On “Yūgen” these are aided by haunting cleans in the background and that’s something that acts as a nice bridge between the two polarities, softening the main vocals. It’s something I actually wish the album had more of as I find the aggressive vocal style just a bit grating after a while. I’d like to see a bit more measure in some of the delivery instead of the vocals being at 100% all of the time. With some morose spoken words in the last minute, followed by absolute harrowing desperation in the vocalist’s screaming, “Yūgen” is certainly an evocative song.
Annapurna was the first 8000+ meters mountain to be climbed in 1950, and that’s the sort of random knowledge that gets you to be one of the best quizzers in the country, but you know, enough about me. I’m not sure if Karg’s song of the same name is inspired by the mountain or the Hindu goddess but the song does have a more atmospheric touch to it which I find welcome. It’s also one of the songs where I’ve noticed the drumming by Paul Färber more and how well it lends itself to the band’s overall sound.
The more I listen to this album, however, the more I think it needs some sort of an intermezzo or something to break the monotony as I’m finding that the songs start to blend into each other just a bit too much in the latter half. The intro of the penultimate track “Kimm” does give a bit of that and I’d like to see more of the album have its sound developed in a more natural way, and perhaps mixing the vocals in a bit more to stop them being so in-your-face frontal at certain points. The guitars work really well though and I find it to be one of the highlights of the album.
With another lovely word – “Anemoia,” which describes a feeling of nostalgia for a place or a time not visited – the album draws to a close with some lovely soothing tones. Marodeur is a solid album to be sure, yet it ironically seems to lack a bit of experimentation in what is a blending of subgenres like post-metal and bleak depressive black metal that are experimental in their own nature. Still, it offers a lot of quality throughout and Karg is a band worth checking out for all fans of the grimmer sides of black metal and those longing for the proverbial and the literal coldness of winter.
Lineup:
V. Wahntraum – all instruments, vocals
Paul Färber – drums
Daniel Lang – guitars
Georg Traschwandtner – guitars
Christopher Pucher – guitars, vocals
https://artofpropaganda.bandcamp.com/album/marodeur
https://www.facebook.com/kargband/