How br00tal might this be? That may or may not be the first question you ask yourself when you see the album art for Kagoule’s new album Urth, out on Earache Records this month. Is it just the primarily faceless bodies sculpturally drawn together? The contrast of the red against the yellow? The fact that Earth is spelled with the letter “u”? If you think about it too hard, naming your band after a type of raincoat is a little humorous for a metal band anyway. None of this should suggest that their single “Centralwing” isn’t beaming with a kind of intensity one would expect from a metal song.
The words “Everyone lying around me/ Heads around my feet, leaving their bodies” that start the song are supported by this hard high-hat-heavy drum beat pulsating in a way that curates urgency while being sung in a manner that’s impactful but completely fucking ‘over it.’ “Centralwing” is coming from a not-very-neutral space that’s listless and aggressive.
“Search hard and you might find me” ushers in a wave of triple density, and the band (without obscene amounts of distortion) pounds the musical phrases into the dirt. It’s really the contrast that they set up with the verse that leaves the refrain pure and unexaggerated. Before diving into the final chorus, Kagoule sprints through an extremely angular bridge that, for all this metal talk, is really the only part of the song that sounds like it could actually be in part of a metal jam. “Centralwing” isn’t just a good song, it’s a good song laden with a few phrases that are hard for an indie band to pull off and Kagoule doesn’t overcook any of it.
“Centralwing” is streaming below.
Urth is out digitally August 21 and in stores September 11 via Earache Records.
You can watch Kagoule’s ode to David Lynch, their new video for “Made of Concrete,” also off Urth below.
Kagoule US tour dates:
September
10 New York City at The Cake Shop
11 Brooklyn at Rough Trade
