Kurokuma: A Reckoning With The Sands Of Time
The concept of time. Something that has both been a blessing and a curse on mankind ever since the first time measuring devices were invented, yet there is a magnitude to time that excitingly we cannot fully comprehend. This inspires us to venture into the realms of the esoteric and to explore our own perspectives as we attempt to understand the complex and ruthless march of time over millennia. This is something that KUROKUMA have explored on their latest album Of Amber And Sand. We chatted with guitarist and vocalist Jake Mazlum to find out the story behind their latest release.
Of Amber And Sand is unlike KUROKUMA’s debut album Born Of Obsidian, thematically there is a link however. “The Mesoamerican theme of the first album was just a vehicle for expressing the themes we’ve tried to cultivate in our music from the start – an exploration of reality, being and raw truth. The beauty, horror and glory of those great civilisations provided an evocative framing for that,” Jake says. “The new material’s focus on time works in much the same way – a conceptual vehicle for exploring the human condition, our ambitions, contradictions, and the eternal fight against nihilism in the face of how all we love and build is destined to end. That’s how we’re able to thematically link concepts as varied as meditation, eternal life, and contemplating the ultimate heat death of the universe.”
When looking at the artwork for the new album, you’re immediately struck by the artistry of it. It focuses on a single moment frozen in time, which is a thematic arc throughout the album, when asked what inspired the album’s art and title Jake explains, “we knew the album would be focused on time, and when we were considering artwork I brought forward a photo of a chunk of amber with a mantis trapped inside. The mantis had been trapped in this sphere of amber for 30 million years, positioned in such a way as to look like it was frozen in worship.”
He continues, “the symbolism of this creature, being frozen in a single moment across an inconceivably long stretch of time, resonated strongly with us. Copyright issues, as well as the possibility it was already a widely circulated image led us to create our own artwork based around this. We had [the] cover art drawn up that also included an ancient city partially submerged in the sands to bring together the concepts of permanence, decay, eternity and our powerlessness over it.”
While specific historical events aren’t explored in this album in the typical sense, KUROKUMA focused on the esoteric nature in the history of time. Jake explains, “we intentionally kept away from specific historical events because we wanted to put all our focus on exploring the esoteric side of time and what it reveals about human beings and reality itself.” He continues, “but if there could be said to be a spotlight on any given events, Fenjaan explores the moment when humanity first started using time-measuring devices and how this captured, divided and tamed the flow of time itself for us, shifting our concept of what time is and our relationship with it, along with raising the question of what was lost and gained in this process. And Chronoclasm looks at where the never-ending march of time will take us. The degradation of everything beautiful, the destruction of everything all you ever valued and fought for, and finally the unbinding of the very fabric of the material universe itself. Though it should be noted this is intended to inspire wonder at the magnitude of it all rather a navel-gazing call to nihilism.”
Musically, the album is heavier and faster than its predecessor, as the band move away from the restrictions of the sludge metal sub-genre. “We’ve been working within the doom/sludge paradigm for a long time, and while we’ve always been pushing away from the typical formula, there’s always something quite ‘dirgey’ about these genres no matter how you spin it. That’s something we wanted to move further away from,” Jake states. “Our aggression and ability to conjure bodily movement without compromising the heft of our sound has always set us apart, and we wanted to build on our strengths, more fundamentally we found we were increasingly digging from more death, groove and nu metal-oriented bands like MORBID ANGEL, PRONG, or KORN. And of course we’re still ripping off BOLT THROWER in many of our riffs but nobody seems to have noticed.”
Alongside this, KUROKUMA utilises some traditional Balkan and Middle Eastern instruments and some sounds to augment the album’s atmospheres and to heighten the hallucinogenic experience. Jake says, “there’s a level you get to as an avid music listener where you start to hear aspects of music that a casual listener wouldn’t, and one of those things is the similarities between the music of the Balkans and Middle East with certain motifs in metal. Odd intervals, ominous scales, twisting rhythms, harsh piercing sounds. These are all on display and characterise many of the styles common to these regions, and they can very much be a natural fit for psychedelia and metal when used in the right way too.”
Despite being a band that is spread across Europe and the band have had some challenges that would break any other band while making Of Amber And Sand, they’re just as passionate and fiery as ever. “Despite the circumstances, the writing process felt more inspired than pressured. We expanded the range of ideas we usually work with and brought enough to the table to create an album we’re happy to present to the world. We’re musicians, we love the band, we love the music we create, and a part of us will always be missing without writing and performing these songs. We will be returning to the stage and we will be releasing more music that’s even better than our material so far – whether that’s in six months or six years.”
Of Amber And Sand is out now via self-release.
Like KUROKUMA on Facebook.