Sunday, June 2, 2024

KATO - Abyss (2023)

   Kato's returning EP continued the path that have been introduced by the debut: traditional black metal with confident experimenting ambitions. 
  It's important to state, that since the past decades experimenting with the genre became the most usual thing, and on such level, that the old school features only partly have been remained. In Europe it could be called as hipster black metal, and the very roots of this so to say abstraction could be found already in the late period of the first waved Norwegian black metal bands. Kato is interesting, cause it shows a way different perspective came by slightly different influences. Even though modern waved influences are wider and more confident than how they have been on "Conflagration", they didn't reduce the importance of the traditional elements. The music is still vile, dark and atmospheric, and it cannot be confused with the tendencies of European black metal. The reason could be that not a thick blackened atmosphere or the so called sizzling sound creating the frame that holds together the various themes, but the themes themselves have been composed to be unified. This basically takes way more effort and productiveness, and that makes Kato's music exceptional. For first hearing the "Abyss" might sound chaotic, but soon it gets clear that everything there is on it's place how it supposed to be. Similar musical wealthiness isn't usual to hear in this genre, except if it's directly mixed with another style like in case of black/doom metal. In Kato's music the mixture isn't so evident, since it's not limited to involve only a few styles, and also there's diversity in other dimensions: chaos - order, harmony - disharmony, sound - atmosphere ect. 
    The "Abyss" is not only long for an EP by it's nearly half hour length, but it also includes so many surprises for the listener, that it's able to show something new by every listening. It's complex, but not too dense or not hard to go into. Strongly recommended for the fans of black metal!

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