Ch-Ch-Changes

posted in: Artist Features

If you had to distill Kiven down to a one-liner, you could say they create stylish, highly technical rock for short attention spans. You’re lucky to get more than a few measures of the same melody before it changes completely. Like on Frigid Stars, which begins as spacious and glacial then suddenly jolts into a turbulent maelstrom of fuzzed guitars, crashing cymbals and muffled shouts. Giving Rights is just as protean, the percussion taking off at a breathless gallop, leading the listener through angled guitars, strident vocals and ever-shifting soundscapes. What I’m Looking For begins as a soft trot with a flute that makes the track sound almost Celtic. But just as soon as it begins, the march is over and you’re catapulted into a metal quagmire of drone guitars and fitful drums. Not your style? No worries”the next part may be. And it’s only seconds away.