Kurokuma – Of Amber and Sand
Kurokuma – Of Amber and Sand
Self-Released
Release Date: 09/08/24
Running Time: 35:04
Review by Dark Juan
Score: Many millions/10
There are times when you, even when you are a champion defender of the faith, get bored of Metal and fancy a listen to something else. If you don’t, you’re a bit of a ‘not right’ as far as Dark Juan is concerned. 90% of music is awesome. I mean, my own collection runs from the most pastoral classical music (Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, if you’re interested) to the most insane Grindcore, like Olivia Neutered John or Onchocerciasis Esophagogastroduodenoscopy. However, it goes off into many tangents, like the most esoteric what-the-fuck like Cromagnon, through a disturbingly large sub-collection of bizarre 60s Satanic Psychedelia, and all the way through the many strata of Metal, from bubblegum like Poison all the way through to The Berzerker. There’s everything in there from scuzzy Pub Rock like Dr. Feelgood to the grim pistoning of early Pitch Shifter.
My point is that there is much to enjoy outside of Metal, and other Extreme forms of music, but there are times when only the Unholy Trinity of guitar, bass and drums will do. Sometimes what passes for my soul craves distortion and skull-crushing grooves and the spittle-flecked roaring of some guy who clearly has anger issues. For Dark Juan, musical explorer, today is one of those days. Intrepid as Dark Juan is in his listening, I never stray far from the one true path and I always come back after I have grown bored with whatever the latest genre of Synthwave is, or the far hinterlands of Power Electronics.
You will all no doubt remember that Dark Juan is of the opinion that one of the finest records ever made by a trio is Prong’s “Cleansing”. Another is “Troublegum” by Therapy? but that is neither here nor there. Prong managed to create that alchemical lead into gold feeling with the sound and the tunes on “Cleansing” as it was meaty, beaty, big and bouncy. Dark Juan would like to introduce you to the inheritors of that sound, being the magisterial Kurokuma, who were based in Sheffield until guitarist/ throat destroyer Jake moved to Bulgaria and tub-thumper Joe decided to become a digital nomad and was last heard of in Albania. Bassist Zakk has not yet quit the sceptred isles of the UK at this time, however.
Kurokuma play a particularly vicious kind of Eastern-tinged Psychedelic Sludge combined with the bite of Death Metal which owes as much to Mastodon as it does to Nailbomb. There’s some serious genre-bashing going on and the resultant sound is so fucking huge that the planet has gone dark, because Kurokuma has blocked out the sun. How three men have managed to make an album with such a… a… mountainous sound is quite beyond Dark Juan. It is the sound of wind-whipped deserts constantly shifting, eddies and whirlwinds viewed from the summit of a cold and unforgiving massif on the edge of it. It is picking out the tiny figures of men and pack animals struggling against the gale in the far distance between gusts of scouring wind and clouds scudding across the sun. It is a tremendously claustrophobic record, however. The sheer weight of it is cloying and oppressive. The heaviness of the music is fucking TRANSCENDENT.
“Of Amber and Sand” (in the title, sand represents the infinity of time, with its abundance, and amber the capture of a single moment) is the second release from Kurokuma and the album opens with the crowing of a cockerel, before the trio absolutely let rip on ‘I Am Forever’, which also has a lot of Eastern instrumentation on it besides the ultragrind. This lends the music a lot more depth than you might expect. It’s also a speedy (for Kurokuma) number that takes precisely zero prisoners, preferring instead to grind them under the metaphorical tracks of their armour-plated battlewagon.
‘Death No More’ carries on the grinding torture, with a drawn-out introduction that just bludgeons the listener to death with unusual time signatures and precisely fuck all regrets about the fact that their music is making your liquified brains come out of your ears. The vocals (being harsh, uncompromising and barked at the listener with venom) fit the pendulous heaviness of the music perfectly, Jake Mazlum ripping the absolute fuck out of his throat and not bothering even slightly with subtlety, preferring indeed to just savagely tear out his windpipe and beat the listener to death with the wetter end.
Everything about this album is truly savage. The guitar sound is a mighty, sharp-edged but still melee weapon-like beast that drips distortion and fuzz and simply crushes skulls. The drums sound like every single strike of them is going to be the last they withstand and sound like you are on the wrong end of a massive artillery barrage, and the bass is a super heavy, yet still elegant predator that slinks and prowls beneath the guitar and other instrumentation.
It’s fair to state that Dark Juan is enjoying himself with Kurokuma right now. Their sheer heaviness is intoxicating and a balm for the somewhat tortured nerves of Dark Juan. This is a mighty album that rivals the likes of Torpor for sheer power and an all-encompassing wall of sound, and to have this absolute cataclysm of a record, this almighty avalanche of sound having been performed by a mere trio is nothing short of staggering.
“Of Amber and Sand” is based on the colossal concept of time, each track dealing with a different facet of temporality and eternity, probing its significance to creation, civilisation and the human experience, and its usage of Middle Eastern and Balkan instrumentation adds depth and complexity to music that is already genre-bending and quite challenging. There are serious brains behind the brutality here.
In short, then: Kurokuma – A band I had not come across before and only took on because they originated in Sheffield and Dark Juan lives in West Yorkshire and will always champion Yorkshire bands because Yorkshire is the best county in the world. It’s so good they split it into four. However, as I have yet again managed to wildly digress from my point, they are a fucking gem of a band and are criminally ignored. No more. Dark Juan officially champions Kurokuma and their not-Doom, not-Death Metal, not-Psychedelic Metal music. Truly something that is brutal and transcends genre boundaries.
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splatter Rating System awards Kurokuma many millions/10 for one of the most sonically perfect records Dark Juan has ever heard.
TRACKLISTING:
01. I Am Forever
02. Sandglass
03. Death No More
04. Clepsydra
05. Fenjaan
06. Bell Tower
07. Neheh
08. Timekeeper
09. Crux Ansata
10. Awakening
11. Chronoclasm
LINE-UP:
Joe Allen – Drums
Jake Mazlum – Vocals, guitars
Zakk Wells – Bass
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Dark Juan and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
