KAILASH

The music is a kind of dark progressive extreme metal not far from the bleak avant garde metal of bands such as Ved Buens Ende and Virus. The vocals which only appear on the two songs "The Sleepers" and "Token" are aggressive rasps though and not the trademark monotone vocals that the two mentioned acts are known for. It´s obvious that Kailash started out as a black metal act but there are actually not that many elements left from more conventional black metal in the music on this album. The songs generally have many riffs and different sections and can go from mid-paced heavy riffs to blast beating in a split second. While the two above mentioned references are the most prominent influences IMO I can´t help also thinking about fellow Italian avant garde metal act Ephel Duath a few times during the album´s playing time. Especially when a saxophone section suddenly appears in the song "Spectrum". The song "Token" also in glimpses reminded me of Swedish progressive post hardcore act Burst. As mentioned there are only vocals on two out of five songs on the album but it´s not a problem because there are lots of riffs and ideas in all songs to keep me entertained the whole time (I usually prefer music with vocals so entertaining me with intrumental music is quite the achivement). The dark atmosphere on the album also help make "Kailash" such a great album IMO.

The musicianship is excellent. The vocals are nothing out of the ordinary but they are well performed. The drums, guitar and bass are excellent though. There are some great interplay and fine innovative ideas in the music that I greatly enjoy.

The production is really good even though it´s not the most polished sound I´ve ever heard. The fact that Kailash is a three-piece on this album with two musicians handling the instrumental parts (there are only drums, bass and guitar on the album and the odd saxophone in "Spectrum") and one handling the vocals of course makes it easier to achive a good sound but it´s great to hear a real underground production sound this great.

"Kailash" is an excellent debut album by Kailash and if you enjoy bands like Ved Buens Ende and Virus you are recommended to check out this album. A great band like this deserves all the attention and recognision they can get. This is a deserved 3.5 - 4 star rating.