IWKC “Hladikarna” ([addicted label])


Heavy sheez from the Russian Federation, IWKC (or I Will Kill Chita) writes their descriptive copy in the Cyrillic alphabet, so I can’t read a thing! Nothing. I know that the band has a four-person core with a cast of many others helping out on “extreme vocals,” “German vocals,” “Gyuke voices,” “vocals,” and, uh, “Full Power.” Stoner/sludge/prog as interpreted by our eastern friends, then, becomes a melting pot for experimental flourishes. There’s a great, big, shining promise in the middle of our minds, and if we expand them, maybe we can set it free. But only if we play/listen to incredible psych music.

Which is what we get from IWKC. Heaving guitars chunk their way across a distorted spectrum, while synth trills trace melodies like chemtrails. Tabla and other percussive elements add flavor, while voices chant and intone incomprehensible dialects. It’s almost weird when the English-language “Youth” busts in around 2/3 of the way through, sounding like Yes in the midst of a King Gizzard-meets-Sleep-athon. It’s all good in the end. I really feel bad for Chita, though – why kill anyone?

A word on the label: “Addicted label without name and logo support all types of psychedelic music, formed in Moscow in 2011.” There you have it.



--Ryan