Viewing the seventh stage of the fourth consciousness as a numinous, surreal state we exit the dreaming mind and escape the flitting of the rapid-eye unto a permanent realm of samādhi, granting knowledge of the lifeforce which finds us no longer a protagonist, instead a staring eye fixated in-between the voids of inward and outward perception. The horror of the unknown overtakes the ‘ready disturbed mind as Dhaka, Bangladesh-based death metal trio Kaal Akuma return beyond their inspired plague-age debut full-length with a substantive and appreciably mutated EP. ‘Turiya‘ expands upon the classics minded, trench-hammered death they’d presented with increasingly surreal strikes at the cortex, an intentionally blurred and swerving treatment of their otherwise traditional death metal craft which marries the garage-built and noisome kick of their craft with engagingly ominous affront. Here they reach a ruinous point of intense psychological horror and savage presence, a notable totem to morbid spiritual transcendence.

Kaal Akuma united as an ‘old school’ death metal influenced trio circa 2018, soon making good on their pact with a representative single, “Master of Metnal” a year later. Their sound was rawly bestial in its commanding barrage but sentient in sinister mode, a nod to a specific old standard reinforced by rugged production and real performances. Their ritualistic and realistic death metal sound was admirably violent but intending an eerie, searching tone one that is not crafted through keen software skills but instead pounded out in a makeshift rehearsal space, a dark and tunneling style of death metal presented by human hands in an aggressive mode. While that single was initially representative of where the band would go on their debut full-length (‘In the Mouth of Madness‘, 2021) a form of death metal we rarely find post-1992 in terms of a Seraphic Decay-era approach where a bit of creeping doom, hellish room noise, and all raw edges showing bring to mind 7″ releases from Goreaphobia, Infester and of course Incantation on a basal level of observation. Their doomed, blasted, and shambling form of pure death metal harass was horrifying on that record, exactly my kind of thing even if its marketing, or lack thereof, never reached me as a customer. It is a shame because it was clear right from the start that Kaal Akuma were making honest and inspired death metal per their own cryptic verve.

A couple of years later they’re basically still at it, though the trio have embraced slightly longer-form songs and delved into avant-garde guitar voicing when leaning into their less contained side. A knack for atmospheric tangents showcases more clearly on this ~23 minute mLP but at least one song here (“Tiyanak”) hits in a very simple, pure weirding underground death metal sense. Still setting their compositional aptitudes nearby the classic death metal realm, but perhaps closer to the Immolation influenced school of thought this time around, these pieces are given to a bestial and wrathful exploration of rhythm. That is to say that the drummer still has an organic hammer to his work which characterizes all of Kaal Akuma‘s work but their focus seems to be in refining movement between ruggedly square blasts and doomed slow-seeping revelations. “Ego Death” gets us there to the tune of about ~9 minutes as the band basically collect the confrontational and atmospheric qualities of their debut and condenses those features into one grand piece. Beyond the sort of blackened register of certain verses the lingering mid-song break of the piece manages to be transfixing, cold and wandering in tone as bi-directional feedback rings in either ear. The ratio of killer brutality and clever points of composition one should expect from this group now merge into greater peaks and valleys here and this opener is for my own taste one of the better pieces overall.

“Ignorance is Bliss” is probably the biggest step outside the known realms of Kaal Akuma here as the band develops their own notions of atmospheric death metal and present a wriggling, dread-filled and blackened blur to kick off the song. We soon find a jetting, kicking and strangely mayhemic pulse forming as the band explore dissonant run-on phrasing and use of surge-and-recede movement to command this surprising piece. The use of spoken and shouted clean vocals next to venomous growls creates a sense of disarray and the song becomes entirely unsettling as it peaks around ~6:35 minutes. If this extra-angular form of dissonant black/death influences is a major part of the trio’s evolution going forward I think they are on an incredible path and this song alone has me excited to see what happens next.

As for gripes, there is just one: The solo on “Tiyanak” was just sort of average, a rock guitar strangle which I’d felt was a hurtle early on as I’d familiarized myself with each guitar arrangement. It kind of works but not necessarily in the same way the scrambled-at solo on “Master of Metnal” had worked on the previous record with this lead just being a bit more ham-fisted, unable to find an equally angular exit from the surge of the moment. This is probably the only hitch to be found on this even more surreal record from the band and it is, again, pretty minor. I’d say the only other major note to take is in appreciation of the timbre of the recording, which feels homebrewed to some extent but “real” in the sense that we get unregulated drum presence raging at the center of the room and the recording seems devoid of tricks that might’ve granted some ‘easy’ artificial depth. This helps the riffs strike a bit more raw and keeps the recording feeling like an actual live death metal presence.

Fortification of major traits, development of personal voice through expanding structural feats, and successful experimentation within new realms which fit quite well with their themes… all of this coalesces into what I’d suggest could be the best point of entry for folks who do not yet recognize the Kaal Akuma name. By taking a few daring stabs at the dark ‘Turiya‘ enriches and highlights the discography of this still relatively new group, all of it bodes well for the future and scourges the mind at present. A moderately high recommendation.

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