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Frontiers Music
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 19.01.2022 | Released: 21.01.2022
While signed recently to Frontiers Music through their Frontiers & Beyond initiative, Portugal's Kandia is not a new band. The band was formed in 2007 by singer Nya Cruz and guitarist André Da Cruz and, to this date, Kandia has released one EP and two studio albums (both produced by Daniel Cardoso of Anathema fame). Now they arrive with their latest studio album Quaternary (meaning, of course, fourth in order).
Kandia is a self-described alt rock and metal band taking their musical cues from peers like A Perfect Circle, Tool, or Porcupine Tree and, according to the band, metal stalwarts Metallica and Pantera. If most of this review, so far, sounds like a PR one-sheet, it's true. I don't really have much to work with or say about Kandia or Quaternary. I made it through six songs, then fast forwarded through the rest. Well, that makes a listen difficult and a review awkward. Because I routinely do not listen to "alt" anything, I have no context to work with.
To these ears, Kandia sounds mostly like down-tuned heavy rock which is thick and dense with riffs and keyboards. Or generally heavy, fast, and sometimes cacophonous. While there's definitely some song melody and harmony, if it were not for the vocals (which are mercilessly subtle to muted) to lift, these important elements would be defeated. I kept listening for some guitar work, solos that is, but I'm not sure I heard them or possibly just missed them. Maybe within The Flood or Murderers, but what do I know: the heaviness and density of each song obscures most everything. All of this is kind of ironic when you consider the aforementioned Murderers which supposedly features Norwegian vocalist and saxophonist (Shining). Was he hired for his voice or his instrument of choice. Really, I'm not sure. Eventually the sax is allowed to rise at the end of the song for, like, five seconds. All said, if your the opposite of me, and you enjoy nearly all modern "alt" rock and metal, you will enjoy Kandia's Quaternary. Check them out and support the band!
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All said, if your the opposite of me, and you enjoy nearly all modern "alt" rock and metal, you will enjoy Kandia's Quaternary. Check them out and support the band!
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