Band:	Kala Azar
Album:	Kala Azar
Style:	Sludge metal
Release date:	January 2024

01. Nothingness
02. Kala Azar
03. Flies
04. Stone Fragments

Kala Azar put the “doom” in sludgy doom metal.

Kala Azar are a Swiss trio who play a mix of sludge and doom metal. I previously reviewed their debut two-song EP Dethroned Forever for the 12th issue of 2022's Clandestine Cuts. Having enjoyed their menacing extreme doom style, I eagerly awaited their debut full-length album. Now, that record has arrived in the form of the eponymous Kala Azar. The question is: would their enjoyable format work a second time?

For the most part, Kala Azar have stuck with the musical approach featured on their EP, meaning that they play doom metal in the very literal sense of the word. All their music is focused on impending demise, whether it's disease, nuclear armageddon, or the yawning void of nothingness. And those songs that aren't overtly apocalyptic leave a lot to be interpreted against the distorted-guitar backdrop. As with their EP, the rumbling, resonant vocals spout very few lines, letting the droning guitars and the listener's imagination fill the gap between phrases.

The eponymous title track “Kala Azar” (yes, we have a certified Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath - “Black Sabbath” moment on our hands, ladies and gents), a name meaning "black sickness" in Hindi, has the strongest moments on the album, with entrancing psychedelic melodies contrasting the crushing onslaught of groovy riffs. Yet, about halfway through the song, I already feel like the song should come to a close—but there are four whole minutes left! This, in fact, is a characteristic problem on Kala Azar.

Despite a total runtime of only 28 minutes, the repetitive nature of the musicianship soon becomes rather monotonous and tiresome, even for extreme doom metal standards (a genre, of course, encompassing the infamously slow funeral doom). Now, don't get me wrong, I did enjoy listening to this album, but there was little that motivated me to give it another listen (I only did so to properly review this album). Other than occasional softer, clean melodies to divide up the heavy riffage, there's little variety and thus few really memorable hooks to latch onto listeners.

Kala Azar certainly nail that fuzzy, ominous sound of sludgy doom, but their slow approach of dread seems to work best in smaller doses such as on their EP. The band need to experiment a bit more, change up the pacing more, create some truly addictive grooves, and streamline their song lengths. To be blunt, if they stick to their current approach too long, their enjoyability factor is, well, doomed.