Release Date: November 03rd 2023. Record Label: PolderRecords. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
Nights At Josan - Tracklisting
1.It Gives 02:58
2.Dying Whales 03:52
3.Bad Roads And Mountains 03:54
4.Way Down Low 04:03
5.Snail Horns 04:29
6.Storm 04:13
7.Strawberry Butt 04:45
8.Black Trip 03:28
9.Bullface 04:51
Members:
Lieven Tronckoe (guitar)
Patrick Van Der Haegen (bass)
Gert D’hondt (drums).
Review
Instrumental Stoner Rockers Cavaran release their debut album Nights At Josan and it’s an interesting style of Instrumental Stoner with the band playing fractured pieces of Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Prog Rock and Classic Rock within a Psychedelic Jam based timeframe. There’s moments of eerie Post-Rock with gloomy atmospherics that lend itself to 1980’s Electronic backdrops on the early stages of the album.
Cavaran aim for a cinematic delivery for each individual song where the mood can be wildly driven by a focus on different musical eras which works superbly well with their own intense blend of Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Rock especially on tracks such as It Gives, Dying Whales and “Bad Roads And Mountains”. The songs do seem to offer an unreliable narrative with Cavaran moving into uncertain creative directions but that’s what makes the album such an interesting proposition with it’s fast-paced extended instrumental jams that takes influence from the usual heavy hitters of Karma To Burn, Earthless and Monkey3.
The band are quite adept at merging Post-Rock based sounds with the heavier Post-Doom elements that allows Cavaran to offer up some intense guitar shredding along the way. The record does a great job at merging moments of Classic Heavy Rock with the backdrop of modern day Stoner grooves that almost venture into the Sludge Rock stratosphere.
Nights At Josan does have a freakish Psychedelic Jazz based quality which allows the record to be more funk based or blues rock sounding which showcases how quite different Cavaran can actually be. The production values are wonderfully surreal with the record thriving on a more SONIC based environment on the later stages within tracks such as Storm, Black Trip and Bullface.
Cavaran are an exciting attraction to the realm of Instrumental Stoner Rock/Metal where they offer a more adventurous cinematic drive to their music which shines throughout this captivating and spellbinding album with it’s powerful array of heavy instrumental grooves.
Excellent and Highly Recommended.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to PolderRecords for the promo.
Nights At Josan is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via PolderRecords
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