kassad-londonorbital-reviews

Review from Friedhof Magazine

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 20:20:15 +0100

From: Friedhof Magazine

Published: September 1, 2020

Reconozco que la etiqueta Post Black Metal me costó mucho entenderla. Ha sido muy poco a poco cuando he podido comprender esa mezcla de Rock tradicional y Black de onda noruega que avanza sin un claro ganador, aunque tiene elementos de ambos sonidos, con los ritmos propios del Rock, junto con las voces rasgadas y las melodías «apagadas» del Black. Esa mezcla la podrás escuchar en la inicial "The Boundary", canción que da comienzo al segundo disco de Kassad, un proyecto que se inició con la idea de llevar el Metal negro de los bosques y montañas vacías a los desmoronados y sucios monolitos de la ciudad. Eso sí, no hay mucha información de esta One Man Band y que, como trabajos previos, cuenta con un "Faces Turn Away" de 2017, que lo mismo te junta influencias de Darkspace o Isis como de Anaal Nathrakh o Burzum.

Este segundo "London Orbital" son casi cuarenta minutos con canciones claustrofóbicas como "The Concrete", de guitarras estridentes y afiladas a partes iguales, con mucha presencia de melodía para dejar una composición muy intimista, algo habitual en todas las piezas, en las que se pueden apreciar las líneas de bajo gracias a su nítido sonido, como en la instrumental "The Hope", con un buen sonido crudo en las rítmicas que casa bien con la amabilidad de las melodías y deja una canción ciertamente expresiva.

Ese híbrido bien definido de Rock / Black también se disfruta en "The Hopeless", sonando la composición oscura, con un sonido general relevante y profesional. No se olvidan de incluir compases con esencia Doom en una cuarta canción ciertamente experimental. E indagando en su estilo rematan el trabajo con "The Hollow", donde se escucha cierto expíritu experimentador. Una composición sólida que logra romper con cualquier etiqueta al utilizar sintetizadores, cuando el autor lo considera necesario, y sin olvidar la distorsión de las guitarras.

Yo los discos los divido entre aquellos que solo los escucho para hacer la reseña o una entrevista, y los que guardaré para volverlos a escuchar más adelante y apreciar de nuevo todo su buen hacer compositivo. Y "London Orbital" me parece algo especial. Puede que se odie la etiqueta Post Black Metal por ser eso mismo, por ser una etiqueta y, además, de relativamente nuevo cuño, pero si solo te preocupa disfrutar de la música, lo de Kassad es una música de calidad y merece la pena ser tenida en cuenta.

Reviewed by: Arcadio R.

Review from Subterraneo Webzine

Sun, 05 Apr 2020 18:50:27 +0100

From: Subterraneo Webzine

Published: April 1, 2020

Original Link

Cemento, hormigón, acero. Paisajes estériles y desolados, que pueden estar repletos de personas o completamente vacíos; poco importa, ya que su presencia es tan gris como las paredes que les rodean. En el contexto de este panorama es en el que se nos presenta KASSAD: una one-man band con la yerma frialdad de la gran urbe como telón de fondo. A nivel personal, y antes de contar nada del disco, quiero destacar el acierto que me parece atacar esta temática desde la perspectiva del black metal. Pocas veces antes una banda había tomado este arquetipo como clara inspiración, a pesar de que en otros terrenos artísticos goza de gran popularidad (sin ir más lejos, la corriente fotográfica conocida como urbex es un perfecto ejemplo de ello). Como mucho, la tenía vista en portadas de algunos álbumes del subgénero DSBM, como en el caso de los suecos SHINING, o también en bandas de estilo industrial como los ochenteros españoles ESPLENDOR GEOMÉTRICO. El diseño de portada e interior de London Orbital apuntan de pleno a esta perspectiva, y merece una mención especial la elección de la gama de grises como únicos colores de todas sus fotografías.

En esencia, este es el relato que KASSAD pretende evocar con su música ya no solo en este último disco, sino también en sus dos trabajos anteriores (el EP Humans de 2016 y el álbum Faces turn away de 2017). Compuesto de únicamente cinco temas pero que sobrepasan en todos los casos los cinco minutos de duración, las canciones de London Orbital se mueven siempre en tempos intermedios, con ocasionales interludios atmosféricos que contribuyen a relajar la tensión acumulada cuando es necesario. Aunque lo desarrollo con detalle más adelante, a priori la primera conclusión que puedo extraer es que esperaba mucho más de este álbum. Los cinco temas son bastante previsibles en su desarrollo, tal y como cabría esperar de una banda de black metal de estilo atmosférico, y aunque la ejecución es correcta, no aportan nada nuevo ni tampoco implican un gran salto cualitativo en el estilo. Como mucho, se pueden notar ciertos toques cercanos al post-rock, o al llamado post-black, pero tampoco es nada que resulte especialmente llamativo. No pretendo decir que se trate de un disco completamente pasable, y es que la atmósfera que crea London Orbital, si logramos fijarnos un poco en los detalles que esconde la obra, puede llegar a sumergirnos agradablemente durante un rato; la pena es que no va mucho más allá de eso. Quizá parte de esta sensación me la he llevado por culpa de unas líneas melódicas que se notan poco inspiradas, y no del todo adecuadas para el tono sombrío que se pretende transmitir. En comparación con el Faces turn away, la disonancia característica de sus canciones ha dado paso a melodías con el toque nostálgico en tono menor propias del black más bucólico, y no me acaba de encajar con el cánon estético que la banda, aparentemente, persigue en todos sus trabajos.

A nivel de producción, lo primero que salta a la vista en comparación con sus obras anteriores es el salto cualitativo que se ha dado en los valores de producción, y también, de manera notoria, en la calidad interpretativa. Si bien la voz ha perdido parte de su crudeza al gozar de una producción mucho más cuidada, el efecto que logra al estar perfectamente difuminada y mezclada con el mar sonoro que es el resto de instrumentos le aporta un toque muy distintivo a la música. Se nota que la mente detrás de KASSAD ha aprendido con la experiencia, y quiere ir más allá de una mera banda de black metal atmosférico «de YouTube». Un punto no tan positivo, en cambio, son las guitarras, ya que resultan terriblemente monótonas en su tremolo constante, con un desarrollo compositivo prácticamente inexistente. Esta manera de tocar, aun tratándose de un elemento fundamental en el estilo, podría haberse mejorado mucho buscando un extra de variedad en este terreno.

La impresión que se desprende tras varias escuchas no cambia notoriamente respecto a la primera; sin embargo, sí que hay una serie de detalles que se revelan con el tiempo, y pienso especialmente en las diversas capas de sintetizadores y teclados que contribuyen a desarrollar la ambientación del disco. Dadas las características que he ido describiendo hasta ahora, se puede extraer que sobre ellos recae el gran peso de este álbum, y aunque están perfectamente integrados en la música, la banda podría haber ido un paso más allá, quizá buscando inspiración en la música de estilo industrial, que como he comentado al principio está muy conectada temáticamente con la narrativa que KASSAD presenta. En conclusión, se podría decir que London Orbital posee una serie de elementos muy interesantes por separado que bien combinados podrían llevar a convertir al proyecto en algo singular y memorable, pero, por desgracia, no acaban de estar del todo coordinados, y el resultado es un álbum un tranto irregular. Teniendo en cuenta el bagaje previo de la banda y la, eso sí, notable producción de este título, KASSAD sigue tratándose de un proyecto muy prometedor al que valdría la pena estar atentos para ver qué nos depara en un futuro.

Reviewed by: Francesc Albert

Review from The Headbanging Moose

Thu, 05 Mar 2020 22:57:20 +0100

From: The Headbanging Moose

Published: March 4, 2020

Original Link

Formed in 2014 in London, England, Urban Black Metal one-man project Kassad conveys an all-encompassing sense of existential terror and claustrophobic anxiety that hits you and builds to a crescendo before everything descends into dread and finally nothingness, combining the misery, futility, and madness of modern urban life with abrasive and gritty Black Metal and a hallucinatory ambience, being therefore highly recommended for fans of bands like Ihsahn, Darkspace, Burzum, Altar of Plagues, Nachtmystium and Downfall of Nur, among several others. After the releases of his debut EP Humans, in 2016, and his first full-length album Faces Turn Away, in 2017, an album that by the way explored themes of misery and claustrophobia in an urban setting, it’s time for Kassad to dive deep into this theme once again with his sophomore full-length opus, entitled London Orbital.

Recorded and mixed at Lusus Studios in London, mastered by Daniel Thabet at Liquid Studios, and featuring a gray and modern cover art by Brutal Colours, London Orbital centers around modern urban living and looks to a near future of megacities where the city itself is a personified, malevolent being where human empathy and culture have been replaced by artificial intelligence. “I wanted to create music for an imagined, future London – one where the city’s monoliths of glass and concrete have come alive to assert their malevolent control over the millions of people that live and toil amongst them. Workers travel in the vast shadows of these buildings, in the tunnels and transport systems that snake below or in the briefest snatches of sun that are yet to be blacked out. If you tilt your head and look at the city just right, you can already see the light starting to turn to darkness,” commented Kassad about his newborn spawn, an album that, besides its strong Black Metal root, also knows when to slow to a crawling funeral dirge to convey total despair and the loss of hope.

Ominous and melancholic sounds permeate the air from the very first second in The Boundary, where the serenity of Post-Metal is beautifully blasted by Kassad through his strident guitars and steady beats, exploding into high-end Urban Black Metal until its enfolding ending and with first-class poetry flowing from its introspective lyrics (“The city on the hill / Calls me for herself / Wants to own me / Like all her empty souls / That live inside her walls / A digital slave hoard / Eternal fires in code”). Then darker and heavier than the opening track, The Concrete is a gorgeous and captivating lesson in Atmospheric Black Metal where Kassad roars and gnarls in great fashion while at the same time he keeps pounding his drums and slashing his guitar strings nonstop, always focusing on extracting minimalist sounds and tones from all instruments.

And Kassad offers more of his Stygian and introspective sounds in The Hope, a song perfect for gazing at the sky on a cold winter night in the city, and as soon as you are absolutely mesmerized by his atmospheric and depressive music, Kassad brings forth a wall of blackened sounds that will crush your senses mercilessly. The Hopeless starts in a way that’s just as obscure and gray, working as a sequel to the previous song, showcasing Doom Metal-inspired sluggish beats intertwined with sounds of nature and eerie background elements before Kassad comes ripping with his anguishes growls in another top-tier Post-Black Metal extravaganza; and as Kassad’s grand finale to the album we have The Hollow, which begins in an even more melancholic and grim manner, with that bleak and ethereal vibe going on until the end of the song in a solid and vibrant display of austere, unadulterated and piercing Urban Black Metal.

As aforementioned, in London Orbital, which is available in full on YouTube and on Spotify, Kassad continues to delve into the claustrophobic, grim and lonely life in the city, resulting in a must-have album for admirers of the more modern side of Post-Black Metal and Atmospheric Black Metal. Hence, don’t forget to show your support to Kassad by following him on Facebook, and of course by purchasing your copy of London Orbital from the Hypnotic Dirge Records’ BandCamp or webstore in different formats, like the regular CD version or the “Faces Surveilled From Orbit” mega-bundle, as well as from Apple Music, from Amazon, from CD Baby or from Discogs. In a nutshell, Kassad managed to turn all the hopelessness, solitude and cold landscapes of his hometown into a majestic feast of grim and at the same time delicate sounds in London Orbital, proving Urban Black Metal is and will always be the perfect soundtrack for our harsh lives in the concrete jungles we live in.

Reviewed by: Gustavo Scuderi

Review from Ave Noctum

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 08:28:39 +0100

From: Ave Noctum

Published: February 17, 2020

Original Link

We last heard from one-man, anonymous, London based black metal entity Kassad with debut album ‘Faces Turn Away’ back in 2017. The project intrigued me then and does so all the more now. London Orbital takes a ring-road around our concrete city and naturally at first along with its striking black and white cover art makes one consider all those places we slowly pass whilst stuck in a never-ending traffic jam on the M25. Abandoned buildings are left in disrepair, unloved and falling apart, neglected and awaiting for a developer to come along and build new designs on them and fill them with people hemmed in side by side in this ever increasingly busy world. Kassad are with this album apparently not looking at the now but the future, when urban conglomerations has exploded filling up every bit of space, “one where the city’s monoliths of glass and concrete have come alive to assert their malevolent control over the millions of people that live and toil amongst them.” Naturally it is a place that is pretty bleak to confront and has been replicated musically in this fashion along with words and statements such as “repair, rebuild, resist” and track titles getting straight to the point and painting a JD Ballardesque vision of dystopia.

“Mind the gap”, it feels like all gaps will be packed with no space as bustle faintly takes us in via ‘TheBoundary’ and a weeping guitar line emits a cry of pain. Tortured blackened cries fit in behind things as the music picks up pace, howling in misery. There is definitely beauty in the darkness here and musically there is the space that the subject matter has deprived us of. This is an album that envelopes the listener and takes in a lot of moods and emotions. There are long instrumental passages entwined with the poetic yet indistinguishable lyrics that move between adroit and post blackness. The city calls out and again literary influence from the likes of authors such as China Mieville fills my head. A bleak almost gunslinging Western tone pervades the ever present ‘Concrete.’ You can imagine perhaps covert cells of eco-terrorists planting bombs to bring the ballast back to base level and destroy all that is invading and destroying any wide-open spaces we used to take sanctuary in. The poeticism of wanting silence within this “inhuman virus” is evident within sudden barrages of caustic tremolo picking beneath the main maudlin melody. Although I am a “citizen” of London and this fills my heart with the longing to a return to simpler and less convoluted times, this could well be any city on this overpopulated planet and the sense of pathos from tracks such as ‘theHope’ will speak out to you wherever you shall dwell. Whoever our explorer of this tumultuous city is you cannot help but be at one with them as they move like a shadow through the night and the monochrome hues of their palette should definitely speak to the listener.

You can of course ignore all these distractions and just find yourself listening and going with the flow of gorgeous acoustic parts, thick bass lines, post metal raptures and sudden abrupt surges. An alleyway of piano or bleak haunting harmonica may open up suddenly and find you escaping from the crowd and darting down it looking for sanctuary but it is not long before you will find yourself called back into the thrust of a modern city once more. Hope will lead to ‘theHopeless’ there is no real escape apart perhaps the sound of wind between two tracks. The artist has backed up the music with a couple of excellent visual interpretations that are well worth seeing, the one problem I have is that I only need to look out the window in front of me or step into the street to see them myself and this is all too true to life. That should not put you off though as this is powerful intelligent urban black metal for the present and perhaps a warning that the way things are going they could get far, far worse. Perhaps something such as the Coronavirus could ultimately be our salvation and redemption from it all?

Rating: 8/5/10

Reviewed by: Pete Woods

Review from Valley of Steel

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 12:20:52 +0100

From: Valley of Steel

Published: February 4, 2020

Original Link

Hello there, readers. Was it just my imagination or did the first month of this year just totally fly by? Anyway, here we are a few days into February and finally this is the first time I’m getting around to writing about a 2020 release. I don’t feel great that it’s taken so long, but here we are. And, notwithstanding any change in the status of the creek, with regard to it rising or not, this should be the first of many.

This is also the first 2020 release from one of our favorite Canadian labels, Hypnotic Dirge. Those familiar with the record company will recall that many of their releases originate in or around the same frozen northern tundra of their homeland, and often (fittingly) fall within the umbrella of frostbitten atmospheric blackness — but today we’ll be focusing on something that strays ever-so-slightly outside of those stereotypes…

The abode of Kassad, as name-checked in their sophomore album’s title, is the capital of England (rather than the somewhat smaller city located on the Thames River in the province of Ontario); and while the record does still operate within the black metal milieu, the band has described its style as “urban” black metal.

Now first, it might make sense to point out that this descriptor is entirely unrelated to other forms of “urban” music — in this context, the adjective is strictly used in its literal sense of “pertaining to a city.”

One of the more common identifiers of “atmospheric” black metal is a heavy use of reverberation, which tends to impart a sense of vastness and openness. But actual reverb is an artifact of sound waves bouncing off surfaces and reflecting back to the listener; so ironically, the more enclosed and claustrophobic a space is, the greater the amount of reberb (and hence, “atmosphere”) will be produced. So while the sound of London Orbital does have much in common with “atmospheric” and “post-” styles of metal, that same sound makes more logical sense within the setting of a dense concrete jungle, filled with monolithic structures and stark grey surfaces.

And likewise, while the churning frenzy we know as “black metal” may principally have been conceptualized in frigid Scandinavia, those early pioneers weren’t creating the music out in the snow-drifted landscapes that often adorn their artwork; but rather, crammed into the dusky basement of a Norwegian music shop, right? So really, the images that spring to most listeners’ minds really ought to be more aligned with Kassad‘s professed aesthetic, shouldn’t they?

Anyway. London Orbital consists of a quintet of tracks, which first portray a broad view of the sprawling metropolis itself: the black metal foundation of “The Boundary” and “The Concrete” represents the scope of the giant city, while threading a single piercing post-metal lead guitar throughout, seeming like a visitor or newly transplanted resident who can’t help but be overwhelmed by the vastness.

From there, the tracks follow what is surely a common tale: first “The Hope” and then “The Hopeless” as all individuality is lost and assimilation takes over. The constant flow of people and traffic — nameless and expressionless faces — come through in the underlying pulsating of the mechanical-sounding drums.

And when everything is lost, the logical conclusion is “The Hollow”: by now much of the firey black metal spirit has faded away, along with any remaining hint of anything organic, as the closing track builds upon mainly synthetic sounds — buzzing and droning, and utterly desolate and dead inside. Bringing us back to the original point: nevermind black and white face paint, and forget about posing for photos out in the wilderness; this vibe and this aesthetic truly (or should I say “trvly”?) encapsulate the heart and essence of what black metal represents.

Review from Heavy Blog is Heavy

Sun, 19 Jan 2020 18:47:07 +0100

From: Heavy Blog is Heavy

Published: January 17, 2020

Original Link

In the rapidly populating sea of post-atmospheric-gaze-whatever black metal it usually takes something truly innovative to grab my attention. Kassad doesn’t do anything overwhelmingly unique, experimental or progressive for the post-black metal scene, but by the end of the first track I just had that moment of “okay wow, these guys have got this sound figured out.” The greatness of their new album London Orbital sneaks up on you. In its consistency and confined scope, they’ve constructed a really digestible yet striking black metal album with strong replay value.

London Orbital was written as a conceptual, near-future dystopian sci-fi focused on urban living, where London itself is personified and human minds are distorted by artificial intelligence. From bandcamp: “I wanted to create music for an imagined, future London – one where the city’s monoliths of glass and concrete have come alive to assert their malevolent control over the millions of people that live and toil amongst them.”

Wild. That malevolence and oppression translates musically into a powerfully melancholy listening experience, capturing some of the brutality of dense urban living. Harakiri for the Sky style cascading riffs and emotional blackened screams strike such a bleak and bleary tone. This is probably the most depressing album I’ve heard this year, which I think is exactly what the artist was going for.

Like cities, London Orbital emits a hypnotic hum. The consistent post-rocky atmosphere is like a nearby electrical station or rail cars, forever radiating their presence. Synth-infused album closer “The Hollow” ups that dystopian metropolis feel. It builds as an ambient track, until a quick rest is jolted awake by a layer of reverb heavy guitars. As a cinematic instrumental, it sounds like a city itself is breathing mechanically. Synth pads, a more buzzing saw synth and the guitars are layered for an incredibly cold and bleak urban feel.

Reviewed by: Trent Bos

Review from Metal Pit

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 21:13:10 +0100

From: Metal Pit

Published: January 11, 2020

Original Link

Un disco che nasce da un’idea chiara: parlare di un’ipotetica immagine futura di Londra, città in cui gli edifici di vetro e cemento prendono vita per controllare le migliaia di persone che lavorano e vivono al loro interno. Una città in cui, con il giusto punto di vista, si può vedere l’oscurità lentamente prendere il sopravvento sulla luce.

Le idee dietro a “London Orbital” sono chiare, e pur essendo concentrate sulla capitale inglese, si possono estendere senza problemi a molti contesti urbani in cui ci ritroviamo ogni giorno come dei prigionieri. Quante volte ci è capitato di vagare per una città e di sentirci soffocati dagli enormi ammassi di cemento attorno a noi, estranei da tutte le persone che incrociamo e insensibili alla miriade di suoni che riempiono l’aria? Questo lavoro, secondo album in casa Kassad, esprime quella sensazione di smarrimento e di inadeguatezza che si percepisce.

Sulla formazione sappiamo solo la provenienza dall’isola britannica, nessuna informazione riguardo ai membri, nemmeno degli acronimi. Quest’incognita ha la chiara volontà di non deviare l’attenzione dell’ascoltatore da ciò che dovrebbe essere l’unico oggetto che si va ad analizzare di un disco: la musica. Per legarsi al concept presentato in apertura, la proposta della band si identifica in un black metal dalle marcate influenze post, che non si tirano indietro a delle allusioni puramente post-rock.

L’opener “The Boundary” apre le danze generando sensazioni sognanti, che vengono velocemente spazzate via da una scarica di rabbia che ci fa entrare nel vivo del disco. Nelle varie composizioni, anche nei momenti più vigorosi, regna costantemente almeno un accenno alla melodia, con i ritmi che raramente deviano verso derive puramente black metal, mantenendosi cadenzati e lasciando spazio alle parti in pulito. Se già il pensiero dietro questa produzione è di tutto rispetto, anche la musica fa ottima impressione, mostrandosi come un connubio tra due generi che spesso vengono usati in contemporanea, ma mantenendo una sensazione di personalità.

“The Concrete” si può descrivere come il pezzo più aggressivo del complesso, ed è anche quello che fa immedesimare maggiormente nello scenario creato, in cui regna la desolazione. Il contrasto con l’intermezzo etereo presente dopo la metà è rilevante, e qui si può percepire come anche nei momenti più tranquilli incombano costantemente sensazioni inquiete.

Gli ultimi tre brani del disco coincidono anche con le canzoni più lunghe, e possiamo constatare un progressivo allontanamento dalle scelte più aggressive del precedente pezzo. Lentamente, i musicisti (o il musicista?) che si celano dietro a questo lavoro ci accompagnano in uno scenario perennemente angosciante, ma a tratti più scialbo e meno opprimente. Certo, non mancano le sferzate violente e “The Hopeless” ne è l’esempio, ma le decisioni sono chiare, e di black metal hanno ben poco in questo settore della produzione. Non a caso, in chiusura troviamo “The Hollow”, brano che fa prevalere il lato post-rock del disco, avvicinandosi particolarmente all’ambient.

“London Orbital” è un disco che persuade, e con le sue scelte semplici ma mirate permette alla band inglese di fare un’ottima impressione e di presentarsi come una scoperta piacevole e dal potenziale non indifferente. Le sensazioni che si vogliono paragonare a quelle che fanno sentire oppressi, quando inseriti in un contesto cittadino fitto e imponente, si possono percepire con semplicità, e la facilità con cui si può toccare l’idea su cui si basa questo album è sicuramente un suo valore aggiunto. Inoltre, anche dal punto di vista strettamente musicale la proposta rimane qualitativamente valida, non si disperde nell’anonimato trovando troppe similarità con altre realtà dello stesso genere, bensì offre una visione del post-black metal molto curiosa, che potrebbe sicuramente fare al caso agli ascoltatori di questo stile, e non solo.

Rating: 7.5/10

Reviewed by: Jacopo Silvestri

Review from ZWaremetalen

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 21:10:07 +0100

From: ZWareMetalen

Published: January 10, 2020

Original Link

Stilistisch gezien is het Londense Kassad een post-blackmetalband waarbij de line-up in de anonimiteit blijft. Geen idee dus wie er welk instrument bespeelt, of is dit toch weer zo’n typische éénmansband? Het doet er eigenlijk ook weinig toe, want het intrigerende concept en de clip van het tweede nummer The Concrete hebben mijn interesse voldoende gewekt.

In het verleden kwam ik graag in Londen en het is alweer veel te lang geleden sinds ik deze metropool heb bezocht. Nu is dit London Orbital een conceptalbum met een futuristische kijk op het stedelijke leven. Wanneer de stad met zijn reusachtige gebouwen de miljoenen mensen opslokt en emoties part noch deel meer hebben. Deze illustratieve beschouwing is naar het schijnt een soort van urban blackmetal. We bevinden ons in die zin dan ook verre van traditionele black, post-black valt ons wederom ten deel. Voor de science-fictionliefhebber in mij zou dit dus een spekje voor mijn bekje kunnen zijn. Maar is het dat ook?

En ja, Kassad doet echt wel zijn best op dit tweede album. De opzet is wel degelijk geslaagd met name gedurende de eerste twee nummers. Hier hoor je de stedelijke beleving terug, waarbij het lijkt alsof de mensen en de gebouwen verwikkeld zijn in een gevecht. Laten we zeggen dat na de eerste paar nummers de blackmetalinfusie het lijkt te verliezen van de meer ambient geaarde stedelijkheid. En hier zit nu net het pijnpunt, want de ambient voegt hier weinig interessants toe en haalt de vaart uit het album. Concluderend kan ik dus stellen dat het concept geslaagd is, echter de uitvoering is wat aan de schrale kant.

Volgens de promo is Kassad beïnvloed door onder andere de volgende bands: Immortal, ColdWorld, Thorns, Darkspace, Burzum, Anaal Nathrakh, Isis, Cult of Luna, Sigur Ros en Explosions In The Sky. En natuurlijk hoor ik her en der echt wel wat terug vanuit het werk van deze topbands. Alleen Kassad weet mij toch niet geheel te overtuigen na die eerste twee nummers. Vooruit het derde nummer raakt mij wel met tremolo picking op de gitaar en een wat weeïge sfeer die uiteindelijk toch ietwat spannends om het lijf heeft als een opzwepende drum zijn intrede doet. Na dit moment zijn er nog maar sporadisch vocalen te horen. Zoals reeds gezegd neemt de ambient voorzien van minimale instrumentatie en licht engelengezang het bijna geheel over tijdens het vierde nummer The Hopeless. Tegen het einde komt er dan toch nog een kleine climax in de vorm van geschreeuw en wat meer dynamisch drum- en gitaarwerk. Het vijfde nummer The Hollow is zo ongeveer van hetzelfde laken een pak. Het einde van London Orbital blijft dus wat anoniem, zoals Kassad zelf ook anoniem blijkt te zijn.

Dit album verdwijnt uiteindelijk in de vrij anonieme middenmoot. Maar wat is er in Londen gebeurd? Ik moet hoognodig weer eens op reis.

Rating: 63/100

Reviewed by: Joost Aarts

Review from Musipedia of Metal

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 22:50:25 +0100

From: Musipedia of Metal

Published: January 9, 2020

Original Link

Kassad is a 1 man Black Metal project based in London, which is appropriate. London Orbital is Kassad’s second album coming 3 years after their debut Faces Turning Away, and 4 years after their debut Ep Humans. The feel on London Orbital is slightly less Black Metal than the bands debut, so we are closer to Post Black metal territory with this album. The album has a very modern feel as well, there are lots of electronic and ambient elements on offer here, and they are seamlessly blended with Black Metal elements, and there are a lot of those on here as well. This album features some exquisite tremolo picked riffs, with fairly smooth, trance inducing blast beats. There is an innate melodic musicality about these riffs that is very enjoyable, in some places it’s downright uplifting; the riffs on the aptly titled The Hope are a case in point, maybe a little bit like Deafheaven or Archivist, although I’d be doing Kassad a disservice to not point out that this artist has a very unique feel to them.

The subject matter of this album is based on urban decay and looking into the near future where cities are personified, malevolent beings. There is a darkness to this album that is an interesting juxtaposition to some of the uplifting guitar parts. Some of the ambient and drone sections carry a lot of this darkness, this is demonstrated by the final track The Hollow, which is the only track with no metal parts to it. The Hollow has a very slow build up to droning ambient noises, when a beat does come in it’s more like Trip-hop rather than anything you would associate with metal. There are Post Rock elements as well, some of the riffing on the second half of the track The Hopeless has this feel to it, and once it comes in the track gets bigger and bigger to a great ending. I used to live in Stockwell in South London, and this album does remind me of that period of my life and the juxtapositions of living in a big city. London is a very dark place, particularly when it comes to urban decay, and the squalid, neglected aspects of modern life.

However, London is also a vibrant city that is full of life, and I think that's where the mixture of feelings on this album come from. The album is full of the darkness, but also registers that from that darkness can come vital and life affirming things. This all ends up feeling cathartic and balanced. London Orbital is fantastic album. It’s enjoyable and immersive, a modern take on Black Metal and has sprung from living in a city. London Orbital is dark, dank, depressing whilst at the same time uplifting and life affirming, just like London itself.

Rating: 8/10

Reviewed by: Paul Scoble

Review from Wonderbox Metal

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 05:02:52 +0100

From: Wonderbox Metal

Published: January 6, 2020

Original Link

This is the second album from UK post-black metallers Kassad.

Following on from 2017’s Turn Faces Away, Kassad now provide us with London Orbital, a dystopian concept album that’s modern and crushing in its bleak portrayal of near-future existence.

Kassad’s music is atmospheric post-black metal, combining harsh black metal with post-rock intricacy, dark ambience, and blackgaze atmosphere. It’s a delicate balance to do well, but Kassad manage it, producing music that feels as much as it rages. The songs have enough overtly blackened elements to be quite raw and harsh, but they also have a corresponding atmospheric quality that seems them be more emotive than your average blackened material.

There’s an anguished, hopeless feeling that suffuses this album. The music reeks of despair and urban misery, a gloom that permeates every part of each of the songs. The resplendent post-metal melodies are corrupted and sick, yet vibrant nonetheless. The raw distortion is juxtaposed by this colourful melodic side, and enhanced by the textured synths that layer the music with compelling appeal.

Grim blackened screams seem part of the tapestry of the music, rather than separate from it, just as I like for this sort of thing. They’re sparsely used, with large sections of music, (and sometimes entire tracks), absent their scathing touch. This is an album that’s about the entire overarching feeling of the music, and the journey it encourages, so sometimes the vocals are simply not necessary.

Thoughtful and well-judged, London Orbital is a strong album, one that it’s easy to immerse yourself in. I like the band’s modern approach to crafting blackened atmosphere, and Kassad’s music is enjoyable and compelling.

Highly recommended.