Le Kraken - Exalt

LE KRAKEN - Exalt
2009
Indie (D7i Records/L'oeil du tigre/Vendetta/Dream Come True)

Hailing from Montréal, Québec, Le Kraken is a name to remember. They play sludge, but their form of sludge is something different from what I heard before.

Let me explain. Usually, sludge is something that needs repetition and time. On the one hand, Le Kraken offers repetition, there's no doubt about it: every single song sounds as if it has only 1 or 2 riffs and very little variant. On the other hand, the songs don't have time on their side: the shortest being about 2:00 long, and the longest about 5:00 only! This is where it gets interesting. For the first few spins, one can think that Le Kraken is "just" another band in the genre, and that they haven't developed their riffs to their full potential. However, after many spins, the whole album starts to drill into the skull, and that's when you suddenly get the real sludge effect. Each song sounds suddenly like a part of a whole, and that's when both repetition and time mix harmoniously to make a great piece of art.

10 songs, 33 minutes. The songs are sung in French, but the pitch is more raw than other bands like Aussitôt Mort or Mouth of the Architect. A lyric sheet is included with the vinyl. The LP (shown here) and CD has different artworks, both skilled and a good reflection of what the album is: epic rock.

http://www.lekraken.ca
http://lekraken.bandcamp.com/album/exalt
d7irecords.com