Band:	Kazea
Album:	I. Ancestral
Style:	Neofolk, Post-rock, Sludge metal
Release date:	March 21, 2025
A review by:	musclassia

01. With A Knife
02. Pale City Skin
03. Trenches
04. Whispering Hand
05. A Strange Burial
06. Wailing Blood
07. The North Passage
08. Seamlessly Woven

Although this is the debut album of Kazea, I. Ancestral is the work of experienced musicians, and one that aims to channel the whispers of primordial ancestors within a forward-thinking musical framework.

This trio is comprised of two former members of heavy post-rock band Orochen alongside the drummer of the ‘lounge metal’ acoustic group Hellsongs. The members’ past experience has taken them to places adjacent to metal, and a lot of Kazea’s debut record is arguably adjacent as well. Self-described as a fusion of neofolk, post-rock and sludge, it’s a proposed stylistic blend that brings to mind a few bands that are apt reference points for the music on I. Ancestral, but it’s also a description that doesn’t entirely encompass the totality of what Kazea bring to this album.

On the neofolk front, despite the Swedish origin of this band, the twanging acoustic guitars feel a bit more tethered to Americana music than European folk. Some of the more famous example of American folk/metal fusions are Wayfarer and Huntsmen, and both are relevant to discussing this album; the former in particular comes to mind when listening to “A Strange Burial”, a samples-laden instrumental that places post-rock within the plains of the Old West as the slack guitars twang and percussion stoically marches forth, while the swinging grooves prior to the chorus of “Pale City Skin” and in other parts of the record resemble elements of the latter’s earlier music.

Perhaps more relevant than either of those bands, however, is Lathe, whose debut album Tongue Of Silver we nominated in the Sludge Metal category of the 2022 Metal Storm Awards. At the time, Tongue Of Silver felt very much like an example of ‘sludge-lite’ metal, having some of the pace, tone and fuzz of sludge but with a softer edge. I. Ancestral is a record that tends to separate rather than fuse its different stylistic components, but the more metal-oriented songs on the album are still on the lighter and more restrained side of the spectrum. The only songs featuring harsh vocals are “Trenches” and “The North Passage” (said vocals are respectively provided by guests Gina Wiklund of Black Birch and Oskar Tornborg of Wormwood), and while there are crunchier moments on tracks such as those two, “Pale City Skin” and “Wailing Blood”, the heaviest moments never descend into the depth of tonal intensity that most sludge does, and there’s quite a lot of calmer passages in each of them showing off the group’s post-rock/metal tendencies.

Post-rock is a persistent presence, albeit in distinct forms. The folk/post-rock fusion of opening track “With A Knife” (perhaps the most European-sounding of the folk songs/passages) is touching in its subtle melancholia, particularly when the more melodic guitar tones twinkle in the background of its closing moments. “Pale City Skin” contrasts the comparatively heavy distortion of its louder moments with quintessential post-rock soaring tremolos, and similar lighter guitar textures weave their way into the end of the more pounding “The North Passage”. Seven-minute closer “Seamlessly Woven” is perhaps the most overtly post-rock track here, from the subdued, airy feel and subtle snare marches of the verses to the gradual swell of volume and instrumental layering going into its grand closing minutes, imbuing the record with a sense of finality.

Beyond post-rock, I feel that the record also draws in elements from other styles of alternative rock. The most obvious example for me is straightforward, upbeat and anthemic “Whispering Hand”, with a chorus that could have easily appeared on a 90s/00s alt rock radio station even when factoring the slightly metallic guitar tone and pounding drums. On top of that, “Wailing Blood” has a Wayfarer/Wovenhand-style Western twang to its intro and verse guitar work, but the semi-spoken verses and belted chorus have similar radio-ready aspirations.

Some of that may come from the primary vocal style used across I. Ancestral, which has quite a husky, airy and nasal quality to it slightly reminiscent of the likes of Billy Corgan or Pasi Koskinen. Truth be told, I found the approach to be interesting on initial listens to the album, but with repeated playthroughs, the singing started to increasingly grate on me, especially on the likes of “Whispering Hand” and “Wailing Blood”. It’s partly on me for giving the album as many replays in a short window of time as I’ve needed to in order to formalize this review; in smaller doses, his voice is probably easy to appreciate, but I’ve reached a point where I need a prolonged break from it for the foreseeable future, in spite of me liking the album’s instrumentation.

Kazea are onto something rather interesting; I. Ancestral manages to be quite original while still feeling cozy and familiar, and the lightness of its metal makes it very accessible, but in a way that still feels authentic. I don’t particularly love the album, and none of its songs are crying out for me to replay them soon, but I’ve enjoyed my listens to the record enough that I’ll be keeping an eye out for their next steps.