Radiant Knife - Sankalpa - Metal Epidemic

Radiant Knife – Sankalpa
Release Date: 13th November 2026
Label: Self-Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive, Sludge, Post-Metal, Avant-Garde.
FFO: Hum, Russian Circles, Mastodon, Elder, Early Today is The Day.
Review By: Mark Young

I think that if someone asks you about Louisiana metal, what springs to mind is super-thick, dense riffs that draw you in and then crush you within an inch of your life. You might think of bands like Eyehategod or Crowbar, their sound or approach. I can report that Radiant Knife surprised the hell out of me by not being like anybody else.

And I do mean that most sincerely. I’m not saying that this is a completely new way of doing things; what I am saying is that this is an original way of saying what they say. Its heavy here, lightly favoured there but never overpowering in any way. If you take Amber Waves, that starts us off, with its clean melody lines taking us along on a pleasant jaunt, gently ebbing, and then it takes a turn. It’s not monstrously heavy; it’s just the arrangement it has and the way they play it. And then the vocals come in and we are off. Those sci-fi notes enter the fray, and this becomes something that you would genuinely buzz from playing yourself. That chord sequence that makes the hair stand-up is royal, and it’s so simple too. The way they add to it, new layers on layers building to a glorious end. Most bands would be content to follow it with more of the same; Crystal Oscillation doesn’t quite do that. It’s more of an attack, leaning more into instrumental/jam territory as it rips along, dropping little bombs here and there with what I can only describe as a warm, inviting sound, one that continues along as the Disciple Of The Astral Plane drops its ethereal vocal lines on you. I can only describe it as a band who have warmed up and are inviting you to come with them. It comes upon you like a wave, that keen mix of melody and royal riffery.

It’s the avoidance of repetition that makes this such a rewarding listen, avoiding the usual approaches and instead having songs that, from a player’s perspective, would be cool to learn. The magic is in the little moments, and it’s hard to describe, but if you take the middle section on Down By The River Bank, there is this section where lead lines come out to play, and they are mint. By their own words, their releases ebb and flow between heavy and melodic, and I can only imagine how the others sound, but you cannot escape that they weave a unique approach into each of their songs; long or short, hard or soft, what never leaves is that feeling of scope, of just how large they sound. That doesn’t mean they forget that having solid gold riffs are the order of the day, it’s just that they decorate them in a way no one else does. It’s just such a good record, and when I hold them against everything else I’ve reviewed this year, I can say that there is nothing else like it.

It has everything you could possibly want in heavy metal. If you look to the list of bands noted in the FFO section that surely gives you a clue on the breadth of music on show here.