 Modern
progressive rock...or Neo-Prog, if you wish...doesn't really
"progress," as such. The term was coined in the late 60s / early 70s to
encapsulate a movement that expanded rock into classical and jazz
elements, thereby "progressing" into as yet uncharted territory. At the
time, there was a lot of novelty (and wonder) at the thought of
integrating such lofty ideals into popular music, and prog earned its
title. Since then, of course, the term prog has come to invoke the past
as often (if not more often) than the future, basing itself not on the
integration novel concepts, but on working within the basic framework
of extended, rock based structures, using the small handful of elements
that stuck with the genre (classical, jazz, Eastern music and, to a
lesser extent, electronics.)
Kadura, an Osaka band of which there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of
available information, is a prog outfit that managed to find a degree
of novelty in this now almost overmined territory. Using some typically
progressive building blocks (extended instrumental passages, mystical
chants, vaguely Eastern riffs played with guitar, bass, and drums,)
they mix prog signifiers with much darker elements, finding a headspace
that is by turns exotic, psychedelic, tribal, and downright eerie.
There's a powerful, haunted vibe to their one and only album, "From The
Depths Of The Other Space," that takes the strong mystic atmosphere of
similar bands like Ghost and The Third Ear Band, and pulls it into more
unsettling areas.
The Ghost comparison is perhaps the closest, but it doesn't tell the
whole story. That band's live album, "Temple Stone," had a thick,
spiritual vibe that came from the acoustics of the church in which it
was recorded. "From The Depths" bears some similarity in terms of
acoustic space, but turns that mystical vibe into existential dread.
Vocalist / band leader Atsushi Kobayashi sounds like nothing if not a
vengeful ghost, howling from the depths of Hell. Hell could well be the
"other space" of the album title, so complete is the gothic, tortured
atmosphere. "Move" is almost unbearably dark: starting with a tribal
thump that evokes Judgment Day, Kobayashi makes sharp, harsh jabs at
the air with his Zurna, a Turkish wind instrument that bleeds menace.
His vocals convey nothing but pain and foreboding, and while any words
that he might happen to be forming are essentially unintelligible, he's
clearly not singing about sunshine and flowers. Through it all, the
guitars (by Kobayashi and Go Kuwahara) furiously wind their way through
the jagged landscape, drenched in echo and menace.
Those guitars...with the reverb, jagged scratching, and unfailing
ability to find the least happy sounding note in any situation, they
invoke nothing so much as Bauhaus' Daniel Ash in his band's earliest
days. In fact, combined with the tribal drum beats and sleazy, sinister
bass, Kadura bear a strong (if surprising) resemblance to that
pioneering goth band, as well as the coarse, debauched efforts of early
Birthday Party. Nowhere is this latter comparison more clear than in "A
Distant Land," a Hellish trudge through a place not entirely unlike the
Australian band's "Dim Locater." The difference here is one of focus:
Kadura doesn't have (or need) a front man, particularly not one as
attention grabbing as Nick Cave or Peter Murphy. There is no narrative,
no hook, just cavernous, severe, all encompassing dark that draws added
power from its vagueness.
That said the goth comparison is limited: there is no glam, no glitz or
fashion, that could accommodate Kadura's relentlessly ghoulish
aesthetic. They are still best described as a prog band, albeit one
very removed from the King Crimsons and Porcupine Trees that term
invokes. On the other hand, fans of Univers Zero may find a lot to
appreciate: although the two bands share very little in terms of sonic
space, "From The Depths Of The Other Space" and "Heresie" are similarly
nightmarish.
Unfortunately, Kadura appears to have been a one off: afterwards,
Kobayashi formed a band named Walrus and occasionally pops up as a
mixer on anime soundtracks. Kuwahara surfaced in Universal Errors with
members of the Boredoms and Artwank. Perhaps it's for the best. As an
isolated blurt of searing desolation, "From The Depths Of The Other
Space" is up there with Comus' "First Utterance" in terms of spine
chilling gloom, an unflinching journey into the heart of a very
unsettling darkness.
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Available at Amazon US as a CD and a download.
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