Review by Vinny for Great Old Ones, The - Kadath (2025)

I will confess to have been on the fence with The Great Old Ones for some time. I do not recall ever sitting down and giving anything of theirs to date a critical listen before spending a few hours with Kadath though, so I am unsure where this standoffishness came from. Picking up on some of the references to latter day, more progressive Enslaved did have something to do with it, I think. I am not progressive metal’s biggest fan, and so the prospect of having to follow such a trail (or trial as I often find progressive metal to be) did not bode well. However, on reflection, having listened through to the record multiple times, the progressive elements are a lot more subtle than I first feared. They represent a well balanced and unintrusive character in proceedings. Even at its most obvious the progression is not complex or jarring and so I find it more than palatable.

The fact is that I enjoy Kadath a lot more than I was expecting to. I have gotten into the habit of getting in bed at a reasonable hour and taking some bedtime listening with me. Kadath was my bedtime listen last night, and I completed a further run through this morning before work. These two more critical listens, done without the distractions of screens or work, proved to be key in my development of understanding the record better. For a start, it struck me that the three guitars are used intelligently and are not allowed to overwhelm tracks. In fact, they fill up space that would otherwise go unused, in the sense that if two of them are maintain the often-powerful rhythm of many tracks then melodies and atmospherics are done by the third guitar in the background, on the periphery of the main drivers of tracks or in the upper stratosphere of some of the more expansive moments on songs. Cleverly, they do this without creating any distractions. All three instruments fit together so well.

I hear little, if not any, synths or keys on the album either. Considering the nature of the music, this is surprising. The fact that I can be entertained by a fifteen-minute instrumental track, that I would normally hate, is testimony to how good the band are at creating atmosphere and tension using just strings and percussion. The only disappointment around the instrumental is the track prior to it. ‘The Gathering’ must hold some purpose from a narrative perspective as it does little else other than act as an intro for the instrumental. I just find this an odd arrangement choice.

Going back to that earlier Enslaved comparison. If I benchmark Heimdal against Kadath, then it is the latter that I hold in much higher regard. The comparison is most definitely relevant and justified but the French outfit here are far more entertaining and stronger sounding (which I grant is largely down to the third guitar). ‘In the Mouth of Madness’ has an almost epic heavy metal feel to the opening of the song and chaotic riffs of ‘Those from Ulthar’ are backed by wonderful percussion and those grim vocals superbly. This is top three material in the black metal release of the year so far and may supplant Grima for second spot with further listens. I should have perhaps taken more notice of TGOO before now.