Review: Karda Estra - Mondo Profondo (2013)

Artist: Karda Estra
Album: Mondo Profondo
Year: 2013
Label: Believers Roast

Review: Diego Camargo

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Thoughts: As I mentioned in my previous Karda Estra review (HERE), last month the band released their last effort Mondo Pronfondo (2013) and as a big bonus their previous album New Worlds (2011) was added to the CD. So I decided to review both albums separately. Here are my thoughts on their Mondo Profondo (2013) album.

Mondo Profondo (2013) began initially as a concept album back in 2006 based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. But Richard Wileman, Karda Estra leader, dropped the project due to the movie that was released in 2007.

The album starts with ‘On Those Cloudy Days’, which is a very atmospheric piece. In Gothic style. Inspired by the novel I Am Legend Karda Estra used many different sounds to make the whole track work, pretty much like a mini symphony.
With the follow up, ‘Mondo Profondo I’, we have clever synths that were well used. Wileman always uses the acoustic guitar in a smart way and this track shows it.
Then the song turns to be a Bossa Nova with many vocals. This seems to be one of Wileman’s favorite genres. The track keeps changing with weird interludes, Bossa beat and female vocals (by Ileesha Bailey) all the way.

Reading the booklet’s notes you can see that pretty much every track in Mondo Profondo (2013) was inspired by a novel. ‘The Happy Breed’ is not different. This one is based on the novel The Happy Breed by John Sladek.
This one has a bit of the New Worlds (2011) album sound. And it’s pretty much the sound that defines Karda Estra for me. It’s classical, weird, gothic, atmospheric, chamber music, suspense music and soundtrack music. Do the math and try to get the result.

‘Mondo Profondo II’ is a big collaboration between Wileman and his musical partners Mohader, Stu, Phil, Kavus and Benjamin. Everybody shared credit and added new bits to the song. In the end, we have in its 8’43 a weird and wonderful piece, a ‘travelogue’, in Wileman’s own words. I couldn’t agree more.
The album follows with ‘The Haunter Of The Dark’ that was inspired by a H. P. Lovecraft short story. The track has the mood that a Lovecraft tale needs.
This track was originally written to the Colossus/Musea album The Stories Of H.P. Lovecraft (2012) and it was reworked for this release. This was a good move cause usually tracks composed for specific collections like this get lost with time. Nothing is better than putting a particular track in a band’s own album, especially if it fits with the overall sound in it, and this one does.

‘Mondo Profondo III’ finishes the album. This track is the original ‘Mondo Profondo II’ but here it was completely naked down to only the piano chords sequences. It fits well with the rest of the album.

Different from the previous album, New Worlds (2011), Mondo Profondo (2013) seems to be a more polished record when it comes to the compositions and recordings. In the previous one the tracks seemed to be cut in half sometimes. Not here. They seem to be stand-alone compositions with full thick body.

With Mondo Profondo (2013) Karda Estra has a great atmospheric music that should be appreciated with the light off and having thriller/suspense movies in mind.

The band was included in our Podcast #22 and you can listen the track 'On Those Cloudy Days' HERE.