It's hard to believe this is technically only Kardashev's third full-length since they formed way back in 2012. It’s deceiving as they've consistently been fleshing out their discography with strong, almost transitional EPs between each LP. That is, until now. After a three-year break since the slightly divisive full-length Liminal Rite, the now four-piece composed of founding guitarist, Nico, Mark (vocals), Alex (bass) and Sean (drums), have returned with eight tracks and over 40-minutes of some of their best music to date. Alunea feels like a culmination of everything that has come before it, tied together with some of their heaviest and most progressive songwriting to date, without sacrificing the emotional depth and atmospheric bliss that they are known for.
For some brief context of my background with this band, I’m writing this while rocking a Kardashev shirt circa 2013~ when I was involved with the promotion of their first two progressive deathcore EPs working with their old label. I like to think I even coined the term they describe themselves with, “deathgaze.” Anyway, while those early releases still stand on their own merit, the band has come a long way since as they've widened their sound to include more post-metal and shoegaze influence, and Mark has continually expanded his vocal repertoire (as seen on his vocal coach youtube channel, Kardavox Academy). The deathcore roots have not been entirely abandoned, and still offer an interesting dynamic to their sound, but Kardashev is just so much more now.
Those invested in the lore of this band will enjoy that thematically and lyrically, Alunea is a direct sequel to the events of The Almanac and picks up right where the song "Beyond Sun And Moon" ends. Mark elaborates, “The first releases in the Kardashev mythos were broad and conceptual, but they’ve morphed into something more granular and specific. Alunea tells the story of the main character from The Almanac meeting a being created in the song “Continuum” from Excipio. Their meeting is a philosophical examination of where responsibility and duty intersect.” Yeah, there's certainly a lot to dig into here beyond just the squiggly waves that enter our ears. Not to mention the fact that Mark even created his own Sigur Ros-style lyrical language with its own grammatical rules, intermixed with passages in english, bringing even more of a mystical otherworldly-ness to their sound.
Going back to the music, what has long defined Kardashev’s sound and set them apart from their peers is their profound use of dynamic contrast. This is driven not only by Mark’s huge vocal range from operatic and angelic singing to Lorna Shore-esque brutal gutturals and black metal shrieks, but also Nico’s shifting guitar writing to emphasize that calming, sun-light-piercing-through-a-storm-cloud feeling of heavenly bliss that’s brought out more by their post-rock and shoegaze influence. These moments of serenity feel just as integral to what makes Kardashev what they are as the fury of their death metal side. But at the end of the day they would not be who they are without the yin and the yang, and the oh so important connective grey areas in between. It’s in that connective tissue where Alunea has shown the most growth in their sound.
Bands that typically work with a fusion of contrasting genres seem to either lean into the polarity, giving more oomph to the shifts such as Sleep Token, or fight for a seamlessness that feels natural or organic. Kardashev manages to largely achieve the best of both, a testament to how much they've grown at writing both styles of music over the past five releases. On Alunea there's also greater focus on the overlap, such as on “A Precipice. A Door.” where we get layered clean and harsh vocals. The shifts between these approaches largely feel meaningful and fitting of the flow of the song, rather than just because “we’re Kardashev, this is our thing.". As a result the album feels untethered and free, focusing more on just the songs themselves then needing to meet some quota of contrasting feelings. With this more omni-directional, free-flowing song-writing approach it's hard not to put a primary genre label as anything other than progressive death metal, perhaps the first of their releases to really earn that title.
While the element of groove is still a part of their sound, the heavier moments do seem to have shifted more towards progressive riffs and some intricate technicality akin to bands like Rivers of Nihil or Fallujah. Augmenting this more balanced approach to their writing is the fact that this is their best sounding album from a production standpoint. The band decided to work with a new mix/master engineer (Zach Ohren, Entheos, Machine Head, Fallujah) and the result is a brighter, more organic feeling record. Some tasteful violin melodies added throughout contribute to that brightness, giving a bit of Ne Obliviscaris. While conceptually this album is a continuation of their story, it also feels like a necessary rebirth. Those who listen for their -gaze side of things may be left a little wanting, but anyone with a taste for dynamic and extreme progressive metal should find plenty to latch onto, from what is one of 2025's strongest metal releases to date.
Alunea is out April 25th via Metal Blade Records.
-TB