Year: 2025
Label: Rune Serpent Europa

All fans of 90’s British experimental/electronic/industrial music – sit up straight and pay attention! You there in the back, who ramble on about apocalyptic folk. And you there by the window, who can’t get enough of dark ambient. And you too, there in the front row, who refuses to pick sides and just call yourself a fan of post-industrial.

Because boy do I have something to show all you guys.

Oh yes, for any of you out there into the whole weird, esoteric 90’s post-industrial underground – acts such as Current 93, Coil and Nurse With Wound – this is almost tailor made for you. Hell, even the name of the label, Rune Serpent, an obvious reference to World Serpent, is enough to make a great many people wax poetic.

The promo sheet references all three artists I mentioned above, and indeed, more than likely at least Coil and Nurse With Wound will be the first references you too will come up with. US act Kathodos use a rather similar kind of palette, combining hauntingly evocative dark ambience with both tribal and ritualistic elements in their music. The end result refuses to be pigeonholed into any easy, existing niché.

I realize all of the above might sound like Kathodos are mere pastiche of the classic UK style centered around World Serpent. And whilst that wouldn’t be the worst thing to make pastiche of, this is not really the case.

True, Kathodos use some very familiar building blocks on Parasomnia: Pavor Nocturnus, but still without coming across as mere copycats. Instead, I’d describe Parasomnia as an album that on one hands pays tribute to a pivotal era in post-industrial music, and on the other manages to re-create this classic sound in their own image.

But still, there’s no simpler gauge to judge whether you should listen to Parasomnia than this: do you like Nurse With Wound and Coil? If the answer is yes, then – yes, you should.

According to the promo sheet, Parasomnia is meant to be experienced as a series of weird dreams. And certainly, there is a definite otherworldly, dreamy and ethereal nature to its compositions that combine dark industrial ambience with conventional instrumentation. The latter often have a vaguely Mediterranean element to them, evoking mental images of ancient temples and ritual processions.

The album alternates beautiful, calm and at times even serene vistas with moments of foreboding, oppressive and haunting ambience. Take for example second track A Memory Dwindles…; large parts of it come across as a dream vision from some ancient pagan temple. However, the listener slowly becomes aware of a disturbing, ill-foreboding layer of synth growing in the background. Towards the end of the track, what seemed like a dream of beauty takes on considerably darker tones. But the mystic aura remains a constant.

It is this skilled use of differing atmospheres, of using contrast between light and dark, and finding not a balance but an interplay and dynamism between them that is the strongest suit of Parasomnia. Just like the voice of primus motor Kathodos, who handles most instruments, contrasts with the classical soprano of female vocalist Lavinia (who also plays some guitar on the album), Parasomnia is all about the weird undulations and fluctuations of dreaming. Beauty becomes oppressive in the blink of an eye, an encroaching nightmare clears like the clouds after the rain in the next.

(Admittedly, sometimes Kathodos’ vocals teeter dangerously close to being too off-key.)

The end result is a captivating album. At first it catches one’s attention with its outwardly familiar, even nostalgic sonic aesthetic. Ultimately, however, what keeps the listener coming back, is Parasomnia’s own strength. Familiar elements aplenty, yes, but Parasomnia stands on its own two legs.

But still, I reiterate: there’s no simpler gauge to judge whether you should listen to Parasomnia than this: do you like Nurse With Wound and Coil? If the answer is yes, then – yes, you should.

Visit Kathodos on Bandcamp or Facebook