Originally beginning life in Sheffield, England, doom/sludge/death power trio Kurokuma now call the world their home. Except for bassist/vocalist, Zack Wells — he still lives in the UK — but guitarist/vocalist Jake Mazlum has relocated to Bulgaria (“It’s complicated,” he understates. “I’m an Orthodox Christian from the Muslim world, an immigrant to the UK, and a more recent immigrant to the Balkans, where ironically I feel like I fit in culturally more than anywhere else. Much of my family is ethnically Armenian but now resides in Turkey, where I spent the first few years of my life.”) while drummer Joe Allen describes himself as a “digital nomad currently living in Albania.” Given all of the above, chances were slight the band’s take on anything, especially doom/sludge/death metal and its penchant for conservatism, was going to be straight forward in the first place.
The band’s second album, Of Amber and Sand is set for release tomorrow and today we’re giving you the chance to give their take on extremity — a concept album which includes references to everything from Nailbomb, Morbid Angel, Orange Goblin, Korn and System of A Down to Omar Souleyman, Barış Manço, the genre of dabke and ripping leads on the bağlama — a whirl via a stream of said record. Says Joe Allen about Kurokuma’s latest work: “Every track on this record has a different and distinct sound but they’re all tied together by the concept of ‘time’ and we have the interludes in-between each track. They make up a chronological sequence linked to the concept, if you look at the sounds in each. We also brought in a fair amount of Middle Eastern instrumentation and playing on this album. So, Of Amber and Sand and the artwork has something of a double meaning for us. It references the Middle Eastern feel, but also the time concept. You have the mantis in amber — one moment — sitting in a vast sea of sand — infinite time. We’re pleased with the sound on this release as well. It’s the first time we feel we’ve truly captured how we sound in a room, or at a show. People who are hearing the singles have been saying it sounds much bigger compared to previous releases. Truth is we’ve always been that way live, but it’s pretty satisfying to have that down on record after ten years.”
