The Kartetch – The Fallacy
Georgian musicmakers (the country, not the state) The Kartetch specialize in guitar-driven music that compresses elements of shoegaze, indie rock, and industrial music into a primordial, grungy sludge. Their latest EP is called The Fallacy, a four-song offering that will challenge your perceptions of modern alternative music with its wild (but utterly calculated) exploration of what guitar-forward music can truly be. In their words, The Fallacy is:
“Loud guitar music based on principles: ‘Don’t dodge the answers’ and ‘Shoegaze can be with fists.’ However, this may be only a misconception.” Certainly a profound statement from a profound band… But this profundity is on-brand for this mysterious act, and certainly explains a lot as you’re digesting The Fallacy throughout your first few listens.
The Kartetch kicks off the EP with a strong offering, the fleeting “The Sightseeing Night.” Here, we’re introduced to the mainstays of The Kartetch’s sound – unhinged guitar work that ranges from growling distortion to squalling whale noises. Nimble basslines dance in and out through your listening device, flitting around the fretboard while keeping the song’s rhythm deeply rooted. Vocally, The Kartetch opts for a gravelly-voiced rasp, dipping into nu-metal and industrial flavors while maintaining a dignified mystique that said aforementioned genres aren’t particularly known for. They then launch into album highlight “Sycophants,” with it’s warbly lead guitar and neurotic drumbeat intro. Sounding almost self-propelled, “Sycophants” has an anthemic quality that leans more heavily into the shoegaze genre with phenomenal results. Its punishing chorus soars higher and higher with whirring guitar noise, climbing higher and higher into the stratosphere with its siren calls of guitar and ascending bass riffs.
Lead single “On Time” is one of the most fascinating mashups of genres we’ve heard – pairing a canned, lo-fi drumbeat with creepily chanted lyrics, this hits like nu-metal; alt rock; and Slowdive all at once. After an explosive intro, the verses devolve into a deep, dusky baritone reminiscent of the manic rambling of “Duality” by Slipknot; Rammstein; or perhaps a Marilyn Manson single from the early aughts. The cacophonous guitar overtop the electronic sample hits so hard like the 1990s, bringing to mind The Bends-era Radiohead with a hint of late-90s acts like Primitive Radio Gods (think “Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand”). Grungy bass keeps the song rooted in its alternative coding, never losing its footing in its underlying identity.
The Kartetch exits as mysteriously as they came with album closer “The Birth.” Soaked with angelic synth pads, shuffling percussive work, and near-whisper vocals, “The Birth” explores the atmospheric side of their genrebending with a glassy-eyed intensity that sets itself apart from the rest of this powerful EP. The long crescendo into the song’s powerful apex is well worth the wait, and feels almost crystalline in its icy intensity.
The Fallacy is out January 24th, 2025. Check it out on all of your favorite streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp.
Categorised in: Album Reviews
This post was written by Nick Sessanna