Kauan is an atmospheric

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

post-rock Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...

band from

Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk; , is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, seventh-largest city in Russia, with a population ...

, Russia, formed in 2005. Kauan's name stems from the

Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

, meaning ''for a long time'', and many of the band's lyrics are in Finnish. The band moved to Finland in 2022 and is based in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

History

Kauan was formed by Anton Belov (formerly of Helengard) in February 2005. At the beginning, their sound was a blend of

folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for example ...

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

and doom metal. In September 2006, Lyubov Mushnikova joined the band on

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

. Guitarist Alexander Borovikh joined prior to the recording of their debut album, '' Lumikuuro'', released 4 August 2007 by BadMoodMan Music. Borovikh left the band prior to the recording of their second album, '' Tietäjän laulu'', which was released by BadMoodMan Music on 30 November 2008. The album incorporated

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

and post-rock elements. Kauan released their third album, ''Aava tuulen maa'', on 18 November 2009 on Firebox Records/BadMoodMan Music. By that point, the band's genre had evolved to a melancholic mixture of atmospheric

neofolk Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of experimental music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrume ...

and post-rock. In 2010, Belov and his wife, vocalist Alina "Witch_A" Belova (formerly of Inferno and Semargl), released a full-length album on Firebox Records with his other project Helengard. On 26 June 2011, Kauan's fourth album, ''Kuu..'', was released by

Avantgarde Music Avantgarde Music is an Italian record label, formed as a continuation of Obscure Plasma Records, focusing on black and doom metal artists. The label had a sub-label called Wounded Love Records, which has released albums by Dolorian and Taake. A ...

. The album featured a strong post-rock/ambient sound with elements of doom metal. Mushnikova left the band later in 2011. Belov assembled a full band lineup in 2013, including Belova as keyboardist as well as bassist Alex Vynogradoff (also of Vin De Mia Trix), viola player Anatoly Gavrylov and drummer Anton Skrynnik (ex-Dimicandum). This lineup performed on Kauan's fifth album, ''Pirut'', released by Blood Music on 15 December 2013. That same year, the band self-released a digital compilation box set, ''Private Release'', reissued in part in 2014 as ''Muistumia'' by Blood Music. The next Kauan studio album, ''Sorni Nai'', was streamed on 15 October 2015, and released on 20 October. A concept album consisting of one continuous song sectioned as seven tracks, it explored the mysterious 1959

Dyatlov Pass incident The Dyatlov Pass incident () was an event in which nine Soviet people, Soviet ski hikers died in the northern Ural Mountains on 1 or 2 February 1959, under undetermined circumstances. The experienced trekking group from the Ural State Technica ...

. The band's seventh studio album, ''Kaiho'', was released 22 September 2017. It featured lyrics by Finnish folk singer Marja Mattlar. Kauan's eighth studio album, ''Ice Fleet'', was released on 9 April 2021. Between 2021 and 2022, Kauan released three live albums ''Sorni Nai live'', ''Pirut live'' and ''Lumikuuro live''. All three have been recorded in the band's live performance in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, Ukraine in 2017. Kauan released ''ATM Revised'' on 24 February 2023. The album is a reimagination of ''Aava tuulen maa'', fully remixed and remastered with the original sample based drums and bass guitar replaced by real instruments. Kauan relocated to Finland in 2021 and announced a new lineup in 2024, with bassist Niko Salminen, drummer Kristian Merilahti and violist Helena Dumell.

Other projects

In 2016, Belov announced that he had also joined as a member of Vynogradoff's project A Noend of Mine. Anton Belov had a
interview
with Ruard Veltmaat of Progwereld in August 2020.

Members

Current members

*Anton Belov – composer, vocals , guitar, keyboards, programming *Alina Belova – keyboards, backing vocals *Helena Dumell - viola *Niko Salminen - bass guitar *Kristian Merilahti - drums

Former members

*Alexander Borovikh – guitar, backing vocals *Lyubov Mushnikova – violin *Alex Vynogradoff – bass guitar, backing vocals *Anton Skrynnik – drums *Anatoly Gavrylov – viola

Session members

*Igor Andrievskiy - violin *Maxim Rymar - cello *Vladimir Babutin - cello *Artur Andriasyan - keyboards, backing vocals *Astaroth Merc - lead guitar

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Lumikuuro'' (2007, BadMoodMan Music) *'' Tietäjän laulu'' (2008, BadMoodMan Music) *''Aava tuulen maa'' (2009, Firebox Records/BadMoodMan Music) *'' Kuu..'' (2011,

) *''Pirut'' (2013, Blood Music) *''Sorni Nai'' (2015, Blood Music) *''Kaiho'' (2017, self-released) *''Ice Fleet'' (2021, Artoffact Records) *''ATM Revised'' (2023, Artoffact Records)

Compilation albums

*''Private Release'' digital box set (2013, self-released) *''Muistumia'' (2014, Blood Music)

Live albums

*''Sorni Nai live'' (2021, Artoffact Records) *''Pirut live'' (2022, Artoffact Records) *''Lumikuuro live'' (2022, Artoffact Records)

Selected compilation appearances

*"Vmesto Slez" on '' Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer'' (2010, Pest Productions)

References

External links

Facebook page

Instagram page

Bandcamp page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kauan Russian folk metal musical groups Doom metal musical groups Russian post-rock groups Ambient music groups Musical groups established in 2005