photos by Aylin Sengül
“…a celestial storm, a ritual, a descent into a dream where drone meets doom and shoegaze swirls like smoke over scorched earth.” – The Sleeping Shaman
The Sleeping Shaman presents an exclusive stream of Thunderhunter, the debut LP from new German sludge metal/post-rock trio KARLA KVLT, ahead of its release this Friday through Exile On Mainstream Records.
KARLA KVLT marks the return of Markus E. Lipka, the driving guitar force behind 1990s German alternative/noise rock heroes Eisenvater. The alternative music scene in the 1990s vibrantly questioned traditional listening approaches and came up with some of the most interesting concepts in that sense. While it was bands like Melvins, Unsane, Swans, and Cop Shoot Cop on the US side of the pond, on the European side, one of the bands was Eisenvater, and the guitar-based orchestra Rossburger Report that evolved from it. Eisenvater’s live shows remain legendary, transcending gatherings, which among lovers of the extremes have a cult status and are of the kind that everybody claims to have been there. Lipka is joined in KARLA KVLT by his son Johann Wientjes on drums and his daughter-in-law, Teresa Matilda Curtens, on bass and vocals – both also in Melting Palms. Together, the trio delivers a raw and monolithic debut album that is unique in style and approach with Thunderhunter.
The beats and riffs on Thunderhunter are unfathomably heavy, the vocals bell-like, fragile, and intense. KARLA KVLT’s music is dense, immersive, but also beautiful – like a plant fighting its way through a concrete slab, like the tides, following a precise and unstoppable rhythm that can be as destructive as it is capable of revealing beauty in the next moment, offering a view of something new. Based on drone, doom, sludge, noise, and post-rock, the band creates monolithic and hypnotic tracks on Thunderhunter, which was recorded in a strictly D.I.Y. manner in Hamburg. Here, the band infuses seemingly incompatible styles of sludge/doom and dream pop; Both concepts come together within KARLA KVLT in an amalgamation of brutal beauty.
With the release of their first recordings on the verge of release, the band reveals, “This record offers you a glimpse of our family portrait. Listen, consume it, swallow it, and carry it forward within your souls. Together, we want to embrace the chaos, the beauty, and the raw power of existence. Thunderhunter is more than just music. It’s a calling.”
With their advance stream of the album, The Sleeping Shaman writes in part, “Seekers of the heavy, the hazy, and the hypnotic, pay attention as today the air vibrates with something primal. The trio, known only as KARLA KVLT, emerges from the shadows, dragging a wall of sound so dense it bends time itself. Their debut, Thunderhunter, is not just a collection of seven songs, it’s a celestial storm, a ritual, a descent into a dream where drone meets doom and shoegaze swirls like smoke over scorched earth.”
Join KARLA KVLT and stream Thunderhunter early at The Sleeping Shaman RIGHT HERE.
Thunderhunter will be released on LP w/ bundled CD and digitally this Friday, February 21st. Find preorders at the Exile On Mainstream webshop HERE and Bandcamp HERE and digital presaves HERE. Also watch the video for “Karma” HERE and the “Swallowed” visualizer HERE.
KARLA KVLT is currently booking live ventures across Europe for the Spring and Summer months, having booked a Thunderhunter release show in Hamburg April 25th, a gig with labelmates Caspar Brötzmann Massaker in June, and more. Additional live updates will follow shortly.
KARLA KVLT Live:
4/25/2025 Elbdeichstudio – Hamburg, DE *record release show
4/30/2025 Karnak – Kassel, DE
6/07/2025 Z-Bau – Nürnberg, DE w/ Caspar Brötzmann Massaker
9/19/2025 UT Connewitz – Leipzig, DE
9/20/2025 Neue Zukunft – Berlin, DE
“…the place they’re coming from is KARLA KVLT’s own, and that if Thunderhunter is the beginning of a new journey this apparent family band are undertaking, they set out in noteworthy and forward-thinking fashion.” – The Obelisk
“…it’s a not for the faint-hearted, so if you aren’t well versed in doomy drone, then this isn’t a ride you will happily endure, for the rest of us though, who like the darker side of life, you are gonna fucking love this… Coming away from it, I feel quite lethargic, but at the same time lighter. It’s as if some kind of spiritual exorcism has taken place and cleansed my very being.” – The Sleeping Shaman
“Amassing flesh around its bones constantly, the droning ambiance turns quickly into a quite hypnotic one after Curtens’ vocals chime in, and KARLA KVLT carries the listener to their own musical vortex with ease. The walls of sound cave in towards the end without a clear intent of letting go, concocting a positively torturing mood only emphasized by effected vocals that beckon you to descend somewhere murky and lightless alongside them.” – Everything Is Noise
https://www.instagram.com/karlakvlt
https://karlakvlt.bandcamp.com
https://www.mainstreamrecords.de
https://www.youtube.com/@exileonmainstream3639