Photo by Greg Travasos
“The music manically darts and heavily gouges, feverishly twitches and boldly brays, sends celestial keys shimmering overhead and inflicts brutishly chugging flurries, rhythmically rocks out and goes off-kilter, and becomes dreamy and woozy near the end, even as it continues to jab like a jackhammer.” – No Clean singing on “Sankalpa”
No Clean Singing is currently streaming Sankalpa, the latest full-length from Louisiana experimental doom metal duo, RADIANT KNIFE, in its entirety. The premiere comes in advance of the record’s official release Friday, November 13th.
RADIANT KNIFE – Stephen Sheppert (guitars, synth, vocals) and Greg Travasos (drums) – spawned from that very lineage as a sci-fi-influenced experimental metal duo, taking cues from the mid-‘90s sonic explosion from Relapse, Hydrahead, and Amphetamine Reptile Records that changed underground metal forever.
Sankalpa serves as the duo’s follow-up to 2023’s Pressure release which The Sleeping Shaman crowned, “a genuinely diverse and engaging piece of work,” Mystification Zine named, “a face-clawing riff ‘n’ rhythm record,” and Metal Injection championed for being, “synthy, doomy, and experimental.”
Though not a complete departure from the gritty, off-timed approach of Pressure, Sankalpa — defined as a heartfelt, focused intention or solemn vow — takes a more refined, groove laden approach with a focus on melody, layering and texture. Replete with dueling guitar overlays, atmospheric synth textures, floating vocals, and dense rhythm guitars, Sankalpa sits somewhere in the realm of releases from the likes of Hum, Elder, and Russian Circles, while still harkening to key influences such as Dazzling Killmen, King Crimson, and ‘90s-era experimental metal.
Write No Clean Singing in part, “It’s enough to say that Sankalpa is an entirely captivating album — imaginative, genre-bending, beautifully performed, both dangerous and radiant, both heartbreaking and heart-bursting, earthbound and out of this world, and well worth your time from its arresting start to its soul-shaking finish.”
Stream RADIANT KNIFE’s Sankalpa in its stunning entirety HERE.
Watch RADIANT KNIFE’s “Disciple Of The Astral Plane” video HERE.
Sankalpa features artwork by Terry Grow and was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Stephen Sheppert at Starless Sound. The record will be released digitally across all streaming platforms.
Find preorders at the RADIANT KNIFE Bandcamp page HERE.
Sankalpa Track Listing:
- Amber Waves
- Crystal Oscillation
- Disciple Of The Astral Plane
- Down On The River Bank
- Sankalpa
- Consciousness As The Foundation Of Reality
- Bewailer
- Through The Heliopause
- Bones
- On The Mend
RADIANT KNIFE:
Stephen Sheppert – guitars, synth, vocals
Greg Travasos – drums
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https://x.com/KnifeRadiant