Back in 2022, Kalah released Descent into Human Weakness, an album that gathered together their earlier EPs along with original songs to create a classification-defying, genre spanning work that combined enough elements of infectious music and geek symbolism to provide the soundtrack to any convention. With their second album (soon to be published by Nova Era Records) the band have taken a further step into the worlds of science fiction. And if there’s one thing bound to catch my attention, it’s heavy metal songs about robots.

And Yet it Dreams is a full concept album, chronicling the emergence of a sentient robot in a post-apocalyptic world. The robot in question, dubbed 45, roams the wasteland for several tracks, simultaneously evading capture by humans and witnessing first-hand the destruction humans have wrought on the planet. Now, this is not a particularly original concept. The environmental message, while important, has been done many times before, as has the story of the robot who dreams of being a real boy. Originality, however, is not the goal. What matters is the symbolism. By employing ideals that are familiar to all, or at least most, of us, Kalah can piggyback on that shared understanding, and use the familiar motifs to drive a more sonic approach to storytelling.

Barring the odd moments of hope and beauty, this is not a particularly happy album. At times it’s a little depressing. More often than that, though, it is angry. An emotion conveyed by the use of harsh vocals. I’m not a particularly big fan of screaming in my music (Doom metal? Don’t mind if I don’t) and in tracks like ‘Gentle Gears’ there is a little too much for me. But when vocalist Claudia Gigante turns up with clean vocals, I am enraptured. There are few artists who can carry off the switch between the two vocal styles, especially within the same song, but Gigante is in the same lofty halls as Melissa Bonny (Ad Infinitum) and Secil Cen (Warkings). Guest vocalists in the form of Ivan Adami and Sam Astaroth bring even more variety to the album.

Picking out a favourite track is difficult, but if I had to pick, it would be either ‘Wings of Shapeless Dreams’ – an epic of defiant hope and soaring guitar riffs – or ‘And Yet it Moves,’ which serves as the character piece that holds the whole album together. Crucially though, there are no songs that I dislike.

All things considered, And Yet it Dreams is an unexpected evolution from the previous album. Less instantly catchy, but undeniably deeper. The sort of album that grows on you after a few plays The sort of story that will be stuck in your head for a while yet.

Kalah’s second album ‘And Yet it Dreams’ is available to purchase tomorrow, February 16, 2024. My thanks go to the band for this early review copy.