REVIEW

The 2025 release from Tokyo-based experimental rock band KRISHNV, listed in their discography as their third album.

Formed in 2019 by Takumi Izawa (guitar/vocals) and Shunsuke Shibuya (bass), KRISHNV has developed a sound that might be described as alternative dark tribal music. Tribal rhythms reminiscent of ancient ceremonies provide a steady pulse, while a slow-moving wall of distortion gradually permeates the tracks, over which hypnotic, mantra-like vocals unfold. The result often suggests a fusion of TOOL’s ritualistic rhythms and Dead Can Dance’s mystical atmospheres, though the Japanese lyrics resonate almost like foreign incantations, highlighting the band’s singular sense of mystique.

The immersive 19-minute-plus #10 “Obsidian” exemplifies this approach, creating an experience that feels almost like a Domain Expansion, a fully enveloping space that draws the listener entirely into the music.

Live, the band often brings in support members to generate a wall of sound with twin drums and triple—or sometimes quadruple—guitars. Against a backdrop of VJ visuals drifting in darkness, their performances become less about playing music and more about enacting a ceremony. Initially, listeners might feel a primal unease, as if glimpsing another realm, but surrendering to the sound often leads to a physical, ecstatic response.

KRISHNV seems to summon both the sacred and the profane—the truth of which is best discovered firsthand.