EP review: IKITAN - Darvaza y Brinicle (2021)

Genoa-based heavy post-rock trio IKITAN released their debut EP TWENTY-TWENTY on the 20th November 2020 and exactly one year later they announced the completion of two new songs for release on a limited-edition cassette, DARVAZA Y BRINICLE, on Friday 3rd December 2021 on Taxi Driver Records, an independent music label formed by Massimo Perasso in Genoa in 2009. New songs DARVAZA and BRINICLE are on side A of the cassette, limited to 30 copies, and side B is comprised of TWENTY-TWENTY LIVE AT FORTE GEREMIA, previously only available as a digital download and video released in June 2021. The new songs are also available in digital form on the Taxi Driver Bandcamp page and on all IKITAN’s digital stores. Physical copies of their debut EP came with a poster; the new cassette comes with a BIC pen for manual spooling of the tape in case of emergency and digital downloads.
The band reported that they’d been rehearsing extensively as a consequence of the prolonged state of emergency in Italy due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and it was these sessions which resulted in the creation of the two tracks DARVAZA and BRINICLE. They felt that a year after TWENTY-TWENTY the timing was appropriate for the release this new material. Anyone familiar with IKITAN’s modus operandi will appreciate that the pieces are named after two unusual phenomena: DARVAZA (‘Door to Hell’) is an artificially created crater in Turkmenistan that has been burning since the 70s, and a BRINICLE is a hollow brine icicle or ice stalactite found in the Antarctic Ocean known as a ‘finger of death’ because it freezes and kills anything it touches below it on the sea bed.
Describing the tracks as two different yet complementary sides of their nature, ‘devastating and powerful but ethereal and dream-like at the same time’, DARVAZA and BINICLE are testament to how much IKITAN have developed as a band over the past year, with greater complexity provided by numerous twists and turns between psyche, heavy rock and melodic playing.
The quality of the CD packaging for TWENTY-TWENTY was an indication of the care and attention the band devoted to their production but it’s probably been outdone by releasing the two singles in cassette form. Apparently, it was label-owner Perasso’s idea and though it may seem gimmicky, following the vinyl revival limited edition cassettes have become something of a ‘must have’. Thanks to Perasso’s ambition and leadership, IKITAN describe him as ‘a true legend’ for the Taxi Driver label involvement in heavy, stoner, and ‘all types of interesting and cool projects’. Their association with the label and its roster of acts has obviously made them very proud.

IKITAN is:
Luca Nash Nasciuti - guitar
Frik Et – bass
Enrico Meloni - drums and cowbell

‘Darvaza y Brinicle’ was recorded at IKITAN’s Studios in October 2021;
‘Twenty-Twenty Live at Forte Geremia’ was recorded at Forte Geremia on 7th March 2021.