Kita – Tyhjiö
Kita – Tyhjiö
No Profit Recordings
Release Date: 11/08/23
Running Time: 41:05
Review by Dark Juan
8/10
Well, what a fucking week it has been. None of what I am about to write in the next few hundred words or so is probably of any interest to you who wish to read about music, but Dark Juan needs to vent and get it off my chest, and seeing as this is my preferred medium for expression, you all are going to have to read it.
I’d say I’m sorry, but I am not. Not even slightly.
As you know, I work with vulnerable young people. I have been in work for six days straight – four of them on 24- or 48-hour shifts with sleeps (ironically in the home I have been working in, sleep is a rarity) and then had to go in to cover staff who were “ill” (read “drunk” or “hung over”) over the August bank holiday. This is fucking unprofessional and takes something of an emotional and physical toll on your favourite Metal hack, because it is people like me who pick up the slack for the fucking selfishness and stupidity of others, to our detriment, while the lead-swinging cunts who have been living it up at the expense of the mental health of the poor sods who have had to go in and cover their shifts carry on as if nothing has happened.
Add to this the fact that my good friend, Rowan Wildash, a wonderful, warm, singular person, and utterly superb artist, is close to death, cancer having claimed her. She has mere days to live. A less deserving woman for such an awful fate I cannot imagine. Dark Juan and Mrs Dark Juan have been with her in her last days, making sure she knows she is loved and that she is valued by us. It is unfair and fucking unjust and frankly PROOF that the Christian god is not a benign entity. It is capricious and cruel and has no justice within it at all. If there was any justice or mercy in Heaven, there would be a rash of unexplained deaths of murderers, rapists and child abusers, and one of the kindest souls Dark Juan has ever met would be living a long and fruitful life. Add this to the fact that there will be no more of the incredible art she creates as well, for her talent will die with her. This is ineffably sad. Add this to work pressures, and you will no doubt understand that Dark Juan is currently near the end of his fucking rope, exhausted, burned out, sorrowing desperately, and stressed to all hell. I can’t even get drunk anymore.
Time to quell the rage with music, I feel, before someone gets hurt.
You all know by now that Editor-in-Extremis Simon “None More” Black assigns some wild card reviews to the Ever-Metal.com writing crew as a means of getting some lesser-known bands out into the glare of publicity, these being normally self-produced and marketed efforts which come to our attention after their release dates. Dark Juan, for one, is proud to represent these artists, and this is why the Platter Of Splatter™ is currently spinning the second release by Finnish Progressive Doomsters Kita. Entitled “Tyhjiö”, meaning “The Void”, it is an exploration of the end, of life, of everything, and Dark Juan feels that with Rowan approaching the end of her days, that this was a particularly apt time to visit this record.
I should point out that Kita’s lyrics and vocals are in their native language, being Finnish, and therefore Dark Juan cannot comment on the content of them, being as he is an ignorant Englishman and knows no Finnish besides what the band has told him.
The record opens with ‘Kivi puhuu’ and immediately Dark Juan is grabbed by the sound of the band, which melds Progressive structures and elements a la Tool and the like to some extremely fuzzy Sludginess, combined with the languid pace of Doom. It is a deeply atmospheric sound – beneath the Sludge and the fuzz lies some beautifully executed Progressiveness – unusual time signatures and dissonance and movements create a… a deeply uncomfortable vibe that pretends to be approachable. Like when you are tripping on serious amounts of acid and the regiments of Mars bars marching past you have no mouths, but you just somehow know that they have poisonous fangs, dripping fast acting neurotoxic venom, and you know they are aware of you.
‘Kärpässilmät’ showcases the band at their most Progressive. A multifaceted, mutated beast of a song, it has all the power you could ever wish for, being staggeringly heavy in places, yet without the leaden feel that Doom has. It’s a heavily armed, manoeuvreable stealth bomber of a piece, supple and muscular in parts, and Psychedelic and delicate in others. You would not think that the dichotomy of Sludge and Prog would ever work, but Kita appears to be ploughing a valuable and unique furrow by making these disparate elements work expertly.
‘Ataraksia’ effortlessly displays this musical variety by mixing sheer atavism in the vocals with sweet clears, and an almost Trad Metal twin guitar passage that drips fuzz and phaser. As always with bands like Kita who mix heaviness with technical ability, the devil is in the detail. This album is not a record where you will get ultimate value unless you listen to it several times. There are fills and loops and movements that pass you by while you are preoccupied with power, swishing and swooshing keyboards underneath levels of Sludge, and moments of beauty hidden behind walls of mutilated corpses.
The music on this record is tremendous. Complex without being complex sheerly for the sake of it, it should slake the thirst for power that most Metalheads crave. It is a staggeringly powerful sound, aided by a rich production job that allows every instrument to be clearly heard, yet maintains that furred, corroded edge that Sludge Metal has, that thickness and cloying sound. The vocals are also terrifying, the roaring and howling of Jonne and Topi chewing their respective ways into your backbrain and giving it a fucking good trampling. If this is what Finns are generally like, then Dark Juan doesn’t want to go to Finland anymore. This wide-eyed, staring, psychotic vocal delivery fits the music perfectly, and contrasts wonderfully with soft, clean vocals, such as on ‘Ataraksia’.
In short, this cold, angry, heartbroken record about the end of everything probably wasn’t the thing Dark Juan needed to listen to right now, but by fucking God it is apt and timely.
Mrs Dark Juan and I love you, Rowan. We WILL meet again, and I will fight God and Satan themselves with feet, fists, and teeth to make it happen.
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System (patentoitu Dark Juan -veriroiskeluokitusjärjestelmä erinomaisille suomalaisille ystävillemme ja lukijoillemme) awards Kita 8/10 for a superb second album that is chock full of power, pathos, and emotion. A slightly flat snare tone robs this release of a couple of points, but it is still utterly superb.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Kivi puhuu (The Stone Speaks)
02. Tyhjiö (The Void)
03. Torajyvä (The Ergot)
04. Kärpässilmät (Fly Eyes)
05. Ataraksia (Ataraxia)
LINE-UP:
Jonne – Guitar, vocals, keys, effects
Antti – Guitar
Topi – Bass, backing vocals
Aatu – Drums, percussion
LINKS:
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