(written by Islander)
We first encountered the music of the Italian black metal band Kybalion in 2024 through the release of their second EP, A Crippled Power. We found it a multi-faceted and relentlessly dynamic work, often driven by high-octane and constantly varying bass-and-drum work but with riffing that twisted and turned in intriguing and captivating ways.
Kybalion are now returning with a new EP set to arrive on June 5th through Non Serviam Records. Its title might seem to announce Kybalion’s musical mission for their new songs: Make the World Bleed. But both conceptually and musically its merits go deeper than mere ruthless exsanguination.
We’ll begin by sharing this information from the press materials we’ve received:
The new EP draws inspiration from Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s novel Der Verdacht (The Suspicion), exploring themes of absolute power and its psychological consequences – anxiety, guilt, and moral distortion.
Structured as four acts, Make the World Bleed represents different states of consciousness of an individual attempting to rise beyond human law and fear. The band frames this journey as an inevitable collapse: when a species is confronted with power too vast to comprehend or control, the result is destruction – it will make the world bleed.
The opening act on the EP is its title song, which we’re now premiering. Lyrically, it begins with these words, which are voiced with lacerating yet intelligible grittiness:
Deep inside this futile game of ours
A newborn thought sinks in
I am nothing but a split second event
Born out of spite for stillness
I am a movement
Therefore I am
And I pledge devotion
To the Great Mystery and to myself
There is no Justice
Where could it come from?
I am free
And the only true freedom is in the bravery of the Crime
And so the EP’s protagonist begins his journey. Musically, the journey begins with furiously hammering drums and layered guitars that frantically shiver and slither, creating a two-toned turmoil. And from there Kybalion again demonstrate their proclivity to pack even a song as compact as this one with changing shapes and colors.
The riffing seems to grievously moan and wail as well as to desperately convulse in fleet-fingered spasms. The drum patterns repeatedly shift from blasting fury to head-moving hits and stomping marches. Notes briefly glitter, and continue to swirl in the upper reaches. Near the end the vocalist defiantly speaks in Italian.
By the (very abrupt) ending the music has also come to sound defiant, yet still desperate. The song as a whole is exhilarating, and yet also distressing — and quickly memorable.
KYBALION is:
R.H. Moore — Vocals, lyrics
Seditio — Bass, soundscapes, lyrics
G.F. — Guitars
G. Olgen — Drums
We’ll quote again from the press materials regarding the EP as a whole:
Musically, Kybalion expand their modern black metal sound with dissonant textures, frantic riffing, and bleak atmospheres. Influenced by noir and obscure cinema, their compositions blend dark soundscapes, occasional d-beat passages, and decaying melodic lines, reinforcing the band’s stark and oppressive aesthetic.
The EP’s cover art features “The Astral Body” (1903) by Sascha Schneider (Der Astralmensch). For more info, check out the links below.
NON SERVIAM:
https://www.non-serviam-records.com/
https://non-serviam-records.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/nonserviamrecords
KYBALION:
https://linktr.ee/kybalion.bm
https://kybalion.bandcamp.com/album/kybalion-ad-unum-omnes-split
https://www.facebook.com/kybalion.bm