#kauan

Kauan (left), belongs to: FallIntegral

Kauan is a…hm. Folk metal band? Atmospheric black metal? Ambient noise? It’s a band that is hard to pin down. I haven’t much experience with their previous releases, but their discography seems pretty well regarded by those folks who are into the more experimental realms of metal. I can understand why, listening to Ice Fleet (2021). The album feels like one long song, dedicated to evoking and sustaining an atmosphere of frigid melancholy. It’s music for gray, rime-crusted January days.

Ice Fleet is accompanied by a square bound RPG adventure of the same name, either tucked into a slit in the gatefold of the record sleeve, or available separately. Produced in collaboration with Exalted Funeral, it allows players to play through the story of the titular fleet of ships, found mysteriously frozen in a glacier during the interwar period. The story is a nice mix of The Terror with a bit of The Philadelphia Experiment or the videogame Return of the Obra Dinn. Using a modified version of the Dirk Rules! expansion of Into the Odd (and that is mostly placeholder — you can use pretty much any system to run the game and I might actually prefer something horror-tuned, like Cthulhu Dark), it explores how the fleet met it’s fate (and, through a neat time inversion late in the adventure, allows players to relive and perhaps change that fate). It should come as no surprise that the music of the album pairs perfectly with the story, imbuing it with a strange mix of hope and fatalism.

Kauan "Sorni Nai"

Lyrics :

Eyelashes bitten by frost

The wind of winter beating against the window

A train is rushing, slicing through the night

At its rear, the echo of songs

Chanted by ten souls

They move towards the mountains

Through the frostbitten lands

In January of 1959, 23-year-old Igor Djatlov led a group of eight young Soviet hikers into the Ural Mountains, attempting to reach Mt. Ortorten from the small settlement of Vizhai. None of the hikers were seen alive again.

It took more than three months to locate all nine bodies. They were found six miles away from their destination, in a forest almost a mile away from their campsite.

They were missing their skis, shoes, and coats while braving -30°C weather.

Two of them had fractured skulls, two had major chest fractures, and one hiker was missing her tongue.

Soviet investigators quickly listed the cause of death as "a compelling natural force" and abruptly closed the case a month later.

Sorni Nai by KAUAN

Have you heard the story of Dyatlov Pass? If so, consider yourself a member of our family, dear friend. Sorni Nai is a tribute to nine frozen hikers and the power of nature. It is an apogee of long form. One song, 50 minutes. If you still haven’t heard this album, we wish you a safe journey as you forge ahead. Release date: October 20, 2015.

TRACKLISTING

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Kit

Khurum

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