Now, I know what you’re thinking: ‘another year, and another EP that Sharkboi is trying to pass off as an album for TYMHM purposes.’1 Well, we all have our Christmas traditions and, apparently, this is now one of mine. And, quite frankly, you should be thanking, not judging, me because The Baring of Shadows is an incredible piece of work from Tempe, Arizona’s Kardashev. Active since 2012, Kardashev only released their debut album, Peripety, in 2015. The Almanac2 followed in 2017, with a The Ocean-style instrumental version dropping the following year. With each release, these Arizonans have moved further from the deathcore roots of their demo, Progression, and their first EP, Excipio, incorporating more complex melodies and wider genre influences, building toward something I have seen referred to as deathgaze.
All of which brings us to The Baring of Shadows, which opens in full post-metal mode with “A frame. A light.”, as languid, melodic riffs combine with gentle percussion and bass to create a somber mood, over which Mark Garrett’s high and fragile clean vocals can soar. It doesn’t take long, however, before Kardashev begin to toy with the listener, with Garrett shifting to deep, guttural roars as a big doom sound briefly becomes the dominant mood. Continuing what must be one of the most versatile vocal performances of the year – and we’re still on the first track here – Garrett then double tracks his high cleans, first, with a harrowing black metal rasp and then with a deeper almost-choral clean, both to excellent effect. Something in the stylistic shifts puts me in mind of Devin Townsend at his experimental best.
Over the next three tracks, Kardashev gradually turn up the heaviness and brutality, meaning that the post-metal stylings that dominate “A frame. A light.” must share center stage with a progressive, blackened deathcore sound. Drummer Sean Lang, who joined the band in 2019 along with new bassist Alexander Adin Rieth, sets a furious pace on “Snow-Sleep,” hammering out both metronomically precise blast beats and jazz-influenced fills, while founding guitarist and songwriter Nico Mirolla lets rip with searing melodic leads. On both “Snow-Sleep” and “Torchpassing,” that fury is modulated with passages of delicate beauty bordering on shoegaze – hence, I guess, ‘deathgaze’ – as Garrett continues to experiment with gorgeous and viscous vocals. Closer “Heartache” is the heaviest track on The Baring of Shadows, with progressive deathcore-meets-doom sensibilities. The whole record, lyrically and musically, is drenched in pain, which practically oozes out of the speakers. I don’t know whether Kardashev are writing here about personal experiences, but the closing verse of the album sums up the heart-rending mood and pervasive sense of loss: “There is no god, Who can bring you back. The only truth, Is that our children haven’t slept for days, And we are without you.”
While Kardashev still share some common ground with the likes of Fallujah and Aegaeon, they have also moved further into post-metal territory, deploying a lot of empty space and stripped back melodies, in the vein of Alcest and Pelegial-era The Ocean. The Baring of Shadows was my first exposure to Kardashev and when I went back to explore their early discography, I struggled with some of it, partly because of the production choices, which gave Peripety, for example, a crushed and highly stylised, slightly artificial sound. Although the production on The Baring of Shadows remains very ‘clean,’ it feels much more open and natural, with most of the elements given room to breathe. Rieth’s bass goes missing in action on a few occasions and there are occasional effects on some of the clean vocals that I could, personally, have done without but in the main this sounds fantastic.
Kardashev blew me away with this 25-minute record, which I picked up on a whim back in May. For me, The Baring of Shadows is head and shoulders above anything else in their discography, although a record of this quality and scope was clearly signposted by their last outing, The Almanac. Combining Garrett’s frankly stunning vocal performance with some excellent post-metal and progressive deathcore riffs, Kardashev stayed on heavy rotation for the year, despite only being an EP. Were The Baring of Shadows a full-length album – assuming that it could maintain the quality on show here across a long run – Kardashev would undoubtedly occupy a high spot on my year-end List. All the more impressive since Kardashev are currently label-less.
Tracks to check out: “A frame. A light.” and “Snow-Sleep.”