Kong – Traders of Truth
Kong – Traders of Truth
Sliptrick Records
Release Date: 28/11/2023
Running Time: 51:30
Review by Metalphysicist
10/10
I tell you what: Netherlands based band Kong are one of a kind and “Traders of Truth”, the ninth studio album from Kong, is all about improvising and jazz-like instruments performing solos in sequence without losing the vibe of each song’s harmonic field.
I must confess that in my first audition of “Traders of Truth” Kong’s musical proposal sounded like nonsense experimental Class B electro pastiche. But during the second (or third, or fourth) listen the songs suddenly started to make sense to me, as I realised that the music’s texture itself was what I should keep in touch with during the album audition.
There are no lyrics to help the listener to find the trail of such songs as ‘Rök’ (Electro bits and programming finding industrial guitars in the song’s midway and post-metal textures in the end), ‘Glasslands’ (atonal harmonies that feels like percussive thriller movie in an electric forest) and ‘Stray Marks’ (industrial metal vibe, like some of the Voi Void’s experimental madness).
“Traders of Truth” probably is a conceptual album in the sense that each song attempts to create sound ambiences like they were drawn by a painter that invites the contemplative observer to jump into the prog/industrial creative landscapes and just let go your mind with.
When I accepted that the non-lyrics songs intention on “Traders of Truth” is to invite us to fill in the song’s blanks through our human capability to understand music by itself, it seems like I failed in trying to explain the album’s meaning. I’d can only warn you that the musical interaction with “Traders of Truth” works better by activating our other four senses – in a synaesthetic way. That is what I call ‘state of art’ music. Period.
TRACKLISTING
01. Radiance
02. Hit That Red
03. Fringing
04. Rök
05. Mirrorizon
06. Glasslands
07. Ripper
08. Chaos As Law
09. Stray Marks
10. Flat Earth Sobriety
11. Destressed & Unrestrained
LINE–UP
Tijs Keverkamp – Guitar
David Kox – Guitar/Electronics
Oscar Alblas – Drums
Mark Drillich – Bass/Electronics
LINKS:
