Album Reviews : Kunvuk – Consume Rapture

What the vuk?

No, really, what the hell is going on here? Ok, quick roll call:

Insanity, cacophony, and total musical confusion: Check.

Complete disregard for structure, consistency and rhythm: Check.

Quality music: umm…raincheck?

Kunvuk’s overall sound is a little hard to describe in general terms. They have that low, dark, gritty industrial sound of Strapping Young Lad combined with the confused, chaotic structures of The Dillinger Escape Plan and the anharmonic feel of Ion Dissonance or Behold…the Arctopus. If that description on its own jumps out at you then I highly recommend checking out Consume Rapture because it is probably your sort of thing. No really, ignore this review and go listen to it. Now.

That being said, the problem with some of the aforementioned acts is that the music just feels completely nonsensical. There is certainly a role for chaos and dissonance in metal and many artists employ it extensively to great effect. Unfortunately there are many more bands that seem to abuse these tools and the resulting mess is just not a whole lot of fun for anyone. Sadly, in this reviewer’s opinion, Kunvuk fall closer to the latter camp.

Interestingly, the band’s music is actually quite gripping in small doses but a little overwhelming in greater quantity. In a world of generic death metal and uninspired creativity Kunvuk’s whacky approach to song writing and unpolished, raw production really stands out and warrants further inspection. Unfortunately the wackiness is only amplified by exposure to the entire album and the final result is really confusing.

Musically it feels like standing in a room full of impatient musicians that can only stick to the same tempo and general idea for about seven seconds at a time before just stopping and then trying something else. Then the vocals come in and that really breaks the poor, proverbial camel’s back. The vocal performance really sounds like they recorded everything that came out of a (rather angry) guy’s mouth over the course of half an hour or so- screaming at the pizza guy for bringing pepperoni instead of Hawaiian; greeting his mate that just walked into the room with the beer; yelling at the events unfolding on the television; idle chatter with his mate about work; and then talking in his sleep after too much aforementioned beer. Oh, and occasionally doing some of this in time with the music.

Is this painting a picture of what Kunvuk feels like? If that sounds like your sort of happy time then you should definitely give them a try because they certainly have a very distinct sound and will probably appeal to those that dig that sort of unstructured, bizarre composition. On the other hand, if you like your music to make a little bit of sense then maybe give this one a pass.

Artist: Kunvuk
Album: Consume Rapture
Year: 2012
Genre: Death metal
Location: Sydney, Australia
Label: The Light of Damnation
https://www.facebook.com/Kunvuk

Track List:
1. Rapture Pt 1 (Incite)
2. Teeth Swallower
3. Nakusa
4. Taped
5. In the Mouth of Elephants
6. Consume
7. Rapture Pt 2 (Respond)
8. Become Monster
9. Nights (Prelude to Empty)

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