Album Review: Hertz Kankarok – Make Madder Music (Self Released)

Two and a half years after the release of the debut EP Livores, the Italian experimental solo project Hertz Kankarok reappears from the darkness with a new opus entitled Make Madder Music. Four songs, more than 34 minutes of oppressive, slow and pitch-dark extreme metal that can hardly be labelled. Death-thrash flirts with gothic and doom taking a pinch of avant-garde, all of which is enveloped in horror atmospheres while being theatricality epic.

Make Madder Music features Hertz Kankarok on vocals, lyrics and songwriting. Accompanied on this stormy journey by Andrea Cavallaro on guitars, bass and synths, responsible for arranging and recording three of the four songs. As well as the usual associate Dario Laletta who arranged and recorded all instruments for the fourth track.

In Hertz Kankarok’s words: “The songs sound really great to our ears, they are very diverse in terms of moods, styles, atmospheres, but still coherent and absolutely Hertz Kankarok’s. They deal with some of the big human interrogatives – religion, identity, life and death. Being who we are, we have no other solution to life than making madder music.”

This new opus was released on the 13th of May 2018!

The mood is dark from the moment Hertz Kankarok kick proceedings off with Decieve Yourself. With just the right amount of heaviness warped to fit the unusual atmospheric passages. The combination of dirty riffs, poignant melodies, a classic sounding solo and horror movie style bleakness goes far to leave an impression.

The evocative rhythm is turned up a notch for the excellent Cargo Cult. Post style guitar hooks, a blend of spoken word and extreme death metal vocals layered in a style that leans towards gothic sensibilities when not dealing in a more aggressive sound.

Two tracks into Make Madder Music and the talents on show here is eye-opening. A duo of tracks that impress, Hertz Kankarok saved the best for last. Who is Next? brings wonderfully heavy doom backed up by a moody and haunting landscape. An absolute treat for those who like a bit of flair to their metal. Angelic at times, crushing at others. One thing is for sure, this is Hertz Kankarok at his best!

Not that The Great Whirlpool lets the album down in anyway. Switching effortlessly between harder death metal style that has roaring vocals and chunky groove-infused riffs. To a symphonic-style metal track that evokes the greats within that sub-genre. Before heading back to ferocity followed by a lovely piece of vocalisation and sweet keyboards.

An excellent effort. Make Madder Music is an album well worth checking out.

Hertz Kankarok – Make Madder Music Full Track Listing:

1. Deceive Yourself
2. Cargo Cult
3. Who is Next?
4. The Great Whirlpool

Make Madder Music can be bought now via Bandcamp and you find out more about Hertz Kankarok on Facebook.