Review by Xephyr for Kardashev - The Baring of Shadows (2020)

Marred Elegance

Somewhere along the way, I realized that I listen to Metal for a different reason than some other fans of the genre as a whole. Although I love the pits of death and anguish as much as the next guy, there's something about the beauty that can be brought out of such a raw genre which resonates in a much stronger way. Although extremely short, The Baring of Shadows is a serene combination of Progressive and Post Metal that gets broken up by some heavier blast beats and chug riffs, creating a pretty unique contrast overall. Although the heavier "Snow-sleep" and "Heartache" fit into the theme well, the heavenly style of "A frame. A light." and "Torchpassing" are what kept me coming back to Kardashev this year. The waves of sound washing over the passionate, flowing vocal lines is the perfect balance between despondent and comforting, plus the well written transitions into the heavier growl vocals are incredibly natural sounding. There's so much emotion in the soaring clean vocals, which land on a fine line between hopeful acceptance and forlorn sadness. Sadly these emotionally charged Post Metal sections only make up half of The Baring of Shadows, much to my disappointment.

I think Kardashev overstays their welcome in the heavier Death Metal territory though, as the blast beats and breakdowns during the longer "Snow-sleep" don't have as much impact as the expressive Post Metal riffing. The combination of the eerie clean vocals behind the heavier drumming in the beginning of the track is an effective use of their sound, but the middle portion definitely loses me a bit. "Heartache" ups the heaviness even more to close out the album, but it lacks the passion that the other 3 songs seemed to have. Even "Snow-sleep" won me back over with its haunting "...This is my fault" refrain, utilizing the beautiful clean vocal style that truly sets Kardashev apart. It could be argued that the drums hit a bit too hard in the mix for the flowing, reverb-laden style The Baring of Shadows goes for, but I personally enjoyed the contrast in most of the heavier parts. Part of me wishes this album was longer so there would be chances to have more tracks in the style of "A frame. A light." which, at this point, is one of my top songs I've heard this year due to how utterly gorgeous it is through and through. But, all things considered this small package balances its qualities and influences well and doesn't necessarily need to be a full feature length album.