Kultika – Capricorn Wolves (Review)

This is the second album from Romanian progressive/post-metallers Kultika.

I’ve been eagerly awaiting this ever since 2017’s Pursuance. I’ve had to wait longer than I expected for Capricorn Wolves, but it’s been worth the wait.

The band play post-metal with texture and nuance. This is delivered with elements of burly sludge, exploratory progressive metal, psychedelic flourishes, and dark post-black metal. The songs are well-written, wielding atmosphere and emotion in one hand, and heaviness and direct-appeal in the other. Combined, these two weapons make for a formidable assault, one which is hard to deny.

Each song offers the listener something individual, some different facet of the band’s vast toolkit to become enamoured by. A lot of diverse musical ingredients have clearly gone into the making of Capricorn Wolves, and in varying amounts in each track so that each song has its own taste and feel.

Post-metal’s build and release mechanic is used well, but Kultika also know how to deliver the sort off direct heaviness which is absent from much post-metal. Frequently the band’s heaviness is married with blackened melody and immersive atmosphere, whereas at other times it’s given free reign to crush and destroy. Despite this, much of Kultika’s work is fragile and beautiful, resulting in a multifaceted album of range and devastating appeal.

Capricorn Wolves is an impressive album from a band that were already quite accomplished prior to this. However, Capricorn Wolves is their crowing achievement thus far and will hopefully garner Kultika much praise and acclaim, as they are definitely worth it.