Kraken is an Instrumental solo project, metal/post-rock from Belgium. On 11th August 2024, Kraken released his third independent album, “Mountains Of Madness.”
Kraken, Mountains Of Madness: This review will evaluate every aspect of the album, from its intricate musical composition to its production. Our analysis will provide valuable insights to help you determine if this album is worth adding to your collection.
The First Three Sins of Mountains Of Madness
Let’s start by discussing the first three sins of Kraken and his album, Mountains Of Madness
The First Sin, The Strings/Keys: Features straightforward and progressive riff and solo work, along with ambient and atmospheric out space-vortex keys. The Second Sin, The Vocals: The vocals are omitted, and replaced with an instrumental voice. The Third Sin—The Percussions: Involves proggy rock/metal drum techniques, along with various strikes, fills and beats, that drive the music.
The Fourth Sin: Overall Discussion
A Journey, inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft short story “At The Mountains of Madness.”
As soon as the listener presses that button, the opening piece Antarctica and the remaining ten pieces, greet the listener with an instrumental journey, a journey that takes the listener on a journey, inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft short story “At The Mountains of Madness.”
Over the years, I have heard various bands composing music, surrounding the world of Lovecraft, these bands sometimes come from the extreme metal realm. But Kraken has taken this to the next step. Going for more of instrumental atmospheric text, by shaping it around ambient, dark and light, spatial and melodic influences. And it works. To truly capture the theme of the music, one must beware of Lovecraft’s university and stories, along with a set of headphones.
Mountains of Madness is a complex composition, but bold and unique. Each piece is an immersion into a world of rich emotions and textures, at the same time beautiful. The mixing of the intensity of metal with the evocative depth of post-rock, ambient and atmospheric instrumental soundscape, is what makes it beautiful, unique and mystical. All this is provided and delivered by this fruit of art, devilmanship. The composition, this includes the songwriting, mixing, and instrumentation composition —is all a fruit of art.
The instrumentation comprises guitar work that’s solid and adds depth to the music, driven drum work, adds an extra layer of depth to the music, while the ambient keys are rich and fill the void with emptiness. Additionally, the listener will encounter sound FX, space odyssey atmosphere, and acoustic moments, which are added at the right moment. While the production is solid, clear, and floored with perfection, adds a solid foundation temple, to hold the music together.
Moreover, I have perused the works of H.P. Lovecraft, specifically Kraken and his Mountains of Madness, which have successfully captured a certain essence. “The narrative narrates the events of a disastrous expedition to Antarctica in September 1930, and the discoveries made by a group of explorers led by Dr. William Dyer from Miskatonic University. Throughout the story, Dyer details a series of previously untold events in the hope of deterring another group of explorers who wish to return to the continent. These events include the discovery of an ancient civilization older than humanity, and the realization of Earth’s past told through various sculptures and murals”.
Each song is different, as if each song, is a chapter of the story, this is more than music, but an instrumental narrative retelling of the story. This is something to listen to while relaxing and forgetting that the world doesn’t exist. Even if you’re not a Lovecraftian fan, then let Mountains of Madness, take you on your own imagined journey of the unknown.
The album comes to an end with the last song, Insanity, this piece and after the rest of the piece, makes you feel like you have lost your insanity and mind…
We want to give a shoutout to Kraken for letting us review his album, Mountains of Madness. We will now conclude the review by discussing the final three sins.
You’re Listening to “Antarctica”
The Last Three Sins
Let’s discuss the last three sins of Kraken and his album, Mountains Of Madness.
The Fifth Sin, The Memorabilia:
For me, the Mountains of Madness musical compositions took me to another plane of existence, I was so lost in this release. I must say that the third piece Mountains of Madness, the acoustic, and key parts, have this feeling of dread and epic adventure within the compositions—making this piece come alive. At the same time, each piece comes alive in its ‘own’ way, but overall, the whole album comes alive and brings the story alive.
The Sixth Sin, The Artwork:
The artwork looks like it was taken from an expedition.
The Seventh Sin, Disrelish:
Nothing to disrelish within the musical spectrum of Kraken, and his album Mountains Of Madness.
This concludes the Kraken, Mountains Of Madness review.
Track-listing:
- Antarctica
- Cyclopean Ruins
- Mountains of Madness
- Kadath
- The Old Ones
- Erebus
- Giant Albion Penguin
- Underground Tunnels
- Tekeli-li
- Shoggoths
- Insanity
Kraken Is:
- Kilian: everything
Band/Artist Links:
