- Kadinja – Super 90′ (7.5/10)
Kadinja, hailing from Paris, France, are a Progressive Metal // Technical Progressive band with Djent elements mixed in for good measure! The band released their full-length album ‘Ascendancy’ in 2017 via Klonosphere / Season of Mist. The debut album went on to be praised by fans and the media as complex metal that is needed in the scene right now, and soon exposed the band to amazing touring opportunities, sharing stages with bands like Animals As Leaders, Devin Townsend Project, Klone, Adagio, The Algorithm and Betraying The Martyrs! Only a year after releasing their debut album, in Spring 2018 they jumped back into the studio where they were to record the already written second album ‘Super 90’’. They named the album ‘Super 90’’ because it’s from an era they miss a lot – the 90’s. Let’s see what these boys have got for us this time around! Spoiler alert: the results are pretty good.
The album opens with their lead single ‘Empire’ and to me, it sounds just like a Kadinja song, and I’m not really getting a 90’s vibe from it at all, catchy hooks, meaty guitars groove with some gnarly vocals.
Straight from ‘Empire’, ‘From the Inside’ kicks in, and straight from the outset, it does give me a 90’s vibe, and I am a massive fan of this style! Very melodic, but still keeping true to Kadinja style, tightly performed drums, but more of a laid-back approach that maybe the listeners aren’t used to.
Tracks like ‘The Right Escape’, ‘Strive’ & ‘House of Cards’ are all juicy tracks, with that Kadinja style that we all fell in love with back in 2013 when the band formed and released their first EP ‘Eponymous’. With hard hitting screams, tasty guitar riffs locked in with floor pounding drums, what more could you ask for?
A standout track for me on this record is ‘Episteme’ with it being an acoustic ballad track. It shows off the vocal talents of Phillipe Charny and shows he has many styles of singing/screaming that he can deliver very well. The flow of the acoustic guitars is beautiful.
‘Muted Rain’ is a massive banger, with help from The Dali Thundering Concept’s Sylvain Conier, and it also doesn’t disappoint. Both Phillipe and Sylvain work so well together, blending their two voices is like the perfect mix, like salt and pepper, or sweet and sour.
The albums closing track ‘Avec Tout Mon Amour’ is a mainly instrumental affair, that steps away from the bands mainly punchy progressive sound for something that is beautiful, and theatrical.
The album in my opinion, has done what it set out to do, make you fall in love with Kadinja again, and also makes you miss the 90’s. When you get a Kadinja album, you know exactly what you are going to get, and they are on top form in this record, with a varied style of genres mixed in there too.
In conclusion, excellent effort from the lads in Kadinja and top star production too. When stepping out of their comfort zone, to pull off an acoustic ballad, they absolutely smash it out of the park and shows their talent as a band, that they can step out of what they are used to, and experiment with other styles and I take my hat off to them for that. If you are a fan of Progressive Metal, please don’t sit on this album, you’d be a fool not to blast this!
Preorder the album here | BandCamp | iTunes | Amazon
Dan Bryan
