Sunday 25 April 2021

KAVRILA - Rituals III (EP Review)


Release date: March 30th 2021. Label: Narshardaa. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Rituals III – Tracklisting

1.Sunday 04:08
2.Equality 03:24
3.Longing 04:32
4.Elysium 04:24

Review

Hamburg’s very own bleak Sludge/Doom Riffsters Kavrila make a welcome return with their new EP Rituals III. This is their first release since their 2018 EP – Rituals II and it continues the bleak journey the band started on both EP’s but with this one being more gloomier and with a lot more heavier sounds.

The EP fuses Post-Hardcore manic energy with Punk Rock sensibilities with the gloomy Doom/Sludge Metal atmospherics giving this EP a welcome blast of grounded reality. The vocals are pissed and clear from the very start with opening song Sunday offering a fast-paced blend of muscular aggressive style of modern day Rock/Metal.

Kavrila keep up this style of music for the whole EP and perhaps offer the best moments on the final two songs of Longing and Elysium. There is something dark and brooding lurking on these two tracks that impressed me the most. The instrumental work is superb with Kavrila bringing real intelligence to their music and lyrical content.

Overall, Rituals III allows Kavrila to complete a hat-trick of great releases under the Rituals banner. I wish the EP was on longer as I wanted to spend more time with the band and 15 minutes is not enough. Though, this is still a superbly realised and well-produced EP from this highly talented band.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

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