The side-project of Novembers’ Doom guitarist Vito Marchese, The Kahless Clone, as one would expect, is of the highest quality. Being that Marchese’s main act has come to perfect straightforward American death/doom in a manner no one else quite has, it has to be refreshing on some level for the guitarist to branch into similar, albeit more dreary and atmospheric territory. On the four-song An Endless Loop, Mr. Marchese does just that, pulling together all of the grand and unbeatable faces of atmospheric metal into something unique…and totally instrumental.
Bear in mind that Marchese probably could have stuck some vocals in these tunes and the effect would have been the same, but the manner in which he paces the songs is what makes An Endless Loop go. Opener “Leave This Place With Me” touches upon the minimal strokes of Antimatter via a basic keyboard line, then segues effortlessly into a driving guitar bit. The gentle “I Can Fell Them, But I Can’t Remember Them” is the album’s high point, a crisp, pointed number harpooned by some post-rock jaunts that are suitably ethereal. The sparse, drum-intensive “Everything You See is Gone” demonstrates a fair amount of variety in the band’s sonic palette, while “A Somber Reflection” cuts out the drums and peddles away ever-so gently with gorgeous guitar lines and spacious strums.
A thoroughly intriguing project with the potential for even better things, Marchese couldn’t have gotten off to a better start with An Endless Loop. We shan’t undersell this one: Totally excellent stuff.