Review Summary: High energy zeuhl in a space rock outfit
The story of Dai Kaht starts around 2013 in Kajaani, Finland, when Atte Kemppainen heeded the call of Magma and decided to embark on a mission to save another group of refugees from the dying Earth (Ẁurdah Ïtah) to new home, Doover Üouh being the name of the colony ship (take notes - this is one of the words you’ll hear in the lyrics) taking towards their destination, the planet Dai Kaht. Now called Alemaahr Kempah, he assembled a crew of likeminded musicians to spread the message. The lyrics on the first album dealt mostly with challenges on the journey to Dai Kaht, while this album is about the conflict between Hhaimland and Eterniya, the two territories established there. The material of both albums was already written in the first years of band’s existence, and live recordings of songs found on here that are much older than the release can be found.
Stylistically, Dai Kaht is pure Magma worship. The basslines and chants are very Magma, and even the lyrics are in a similar-sounding alien language, Kolöniel (which to my ear actually sounds like a dialect of Kobaïan - some words I can recognise, while others sound like new inventions.) What distinguishes Dai Kaht from most other zeuhl bands is their sound and musical approach. Dai Kaht has completely shed all jazz-fusion influences, opting instead for a more space rock-like sound (as one might already expect from the psychedelic dot art used on the cover). Instead of the horn section, you will find psychedelic guitar solos here. Overall, Dai Kaht is more cheerful than most zeuhl, though at some points (especially in the song Helvet Sttröi II) the darker side of zeuhl can also be found.
The strong points of Dai Kaht are their high energy (perhaps a result of their different approach to zeuhl), at times touching the boundary with brutal prog even, and wild vocal delivery. The bassist Alemaahr Kempah gets quite inventive with his voice and delivers the lyrics in Kolöniel with great pomp and articulacy. He is helped by the rest of the band to fill in for the chant sections. The riffs are extremely catchy, and the songs never feel lengthy or stretched out, something that can be a weak point of zeuhl to outsiders.
If the first album of Dai Kaht was perhaps still a bit restrained sounding, on this one the band has fully matured in sound, and delivered top-notch zeuhl. While it is not the most inventive zeuhl album - the experimental factor is completely missing here, it is filled with engaging and energetic zeuhl and should be considered as one of the essential recent zeuhl releases.
