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Thakandar
March 13, 2010
Writer: Matt
What a stroke of luck it was to run across Thakandar on the illict mp3 network, to be hip to a band with such potential in the infancy of their career.  Rarely do I find upstarts managing so effectively a balance between unwavering authenticity to the spirit of those who inspired them and creation of a contemporary style that avoids the retro and metalcore tendencies of many young extreme metal bands. 

This three song demo Unleashed from this young German group is a fierce slab of blackened death metal, in the best riffing tradition of the early Swedish scene, steeped in the brooding menace of Darkthrone’s debut, rollicking in the swaggering brutality of country-mates Fleshcrawl, and seething with the nihilistic groove of Satyricon’s last few.  Unleashed is one of the first albums since Immortal’s Blizzard Beasts (another point of comparison in a philosophical sense) to play like death metal but with its chilling atmosphere and corpse-painted theatricism creep under your skin like only the best black metal can.

Thakandar formed in late 2008 in Osnabrück, Germany.  The original lineup consisted of Xorg (vocals), Kelrath (lead guitar), Torrent (drums), and Anzuhl (bass guitar).  Rounding out the lineup for a fuller sound, Thakandar recently recruited rhythm guitarist Kaikas.  I reached out to Thakandar to pick their brains and had a nice e-chat with them, where they revealed what inspires them to make such dark and sinister music.  Forming Thakandar was “a great way to express our feelings about humanity and the downsides of society,” Xorg said.  Torrent elaborated, explaining that Thakandar wants “to tell a story which is more profound than simple worshipping of antireligious idols.”  They wanted to tell “a tale which has parallels to the normal life, which might animate some people to think about some basic things in their environment.”

Disease, death, war, and decay.  These are boilerplate metal themes but ones to which Thakandar brings its unique allegorical perspective.  “Thakandar” is a location from Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time saga, as Anzuhl describes it “a completely lifeless valley covered with fog.”  The band vividly recreates this imagery in each song; in the third you hear the “Aftermath” of legions of the dark who have wreaked havoc in the lyrical “conceptual world” created by Torrent and Anzuhl, and left a trail of suffering in their wake.

Thakandar wear their professionalism on their sleeves.  From the opening sustained chord of “Built of Bones”, the powerful, thick sound and tight musicianship showed me a band confident in their own skin and dedicated to their art.  I asked for some more details on the recording process to glean some insight into their promising future.  Primary songwriter Kelrath and co-writers Torrent and Anzuhl came to DocMaKlang Studio in Osnabrück ready to dominate, having already hammered out the tracks and with a clear picture of the sound they wanted to achieve.  “I for myself am a big fan of bands like Wolves in the Throne Room or Lunar Aurora, but that wouldn’t fit for the kind of music we want to create,” Anzuhl explained.  “We decided to get a good sound that fits our taste,” Kelrath continued.  “It had to appeal to us and not to someone else.”

It’s clear the guys in Thakandar do not feel tied down by genre or other aesthetic constraints.  Unleashed shows a maturity and a fluidity of composition that portends adventurous songwriting in the future.  Music isn’t “all about the blast beats or the hard and raw sound” for Thakanadar, it’s about the about the feeling and the inspiration.  Their focus is on creating a “very high form of dark, sinister, and brutal music.” 
   
Unleashed presents only Thakandar’s first three songs and is a “prelude to something bigger.”  They’re hoping to record a full length album in late 2010 or early 2011, and are actually building their own rehearsal room.  Right now they’re actively writing new songs and working them into their live repertoire, which they hope to perform far and wide.

There haven’t been many bands who struck gold with their first three songs, but Thakandar has set the bar high for fledgling acts hoping to earn wider recognition.  I’m already anticipating the arrival of a full length, and if there’s any justice in the music world Thakandar will get picked up by a solid label and you’ll have the opportunity to see them on tour.  This inspiring, evocative young band is everything extreme metal should be in 2010.

Thakandar’s demo Unleashed can be downloaded for free on the band’s website, www.thakandar.de
TO THE TOP
Release Date: October 30th, 2009
Label: Band Self Released
1.  Built on Bones
2.  The Weak will Perish
3.  Aftermath

Total playing time: 12:45
TRACK LISTING
THAKANDAR
UNLEASHED (DEMO)
LINKS
Thakandar's website
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Xorg
Kelrath
Kaikas
Torrent
Anzuhl
THAKANDAR
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