What does being an all-instrumental act mean in 2025? From the classical ensembles that brought to life the compositions of Mozart through to Penderecki, into the boundary-pushing electric fusion collectives of Mahavishnu Orchestra through to Animals as Leaders, there’s a certain transportive quality to voiceless music that opens the listener’s mind to the unknown – without a singer telling one how to feel, they are more likely to create their own journey while listening. A truly talented instrumental act can conjure the most spectacular imagery with no words whatsoever; the catch is, how does a group hold back enough to keep everything from collapsing into a noodling, show-offy display of one-upmanship?
French quintet CKRAFT have taken it upon themselves to answer these questions. The group – consisting of guitar, bass, drums, tenor saxophone and accordion – keep Uncommon Grounds, their second full-length, at a tight 34 minutes, meaning there is very little time to dilly-dally or go off on an improvised tangent. That said, from the frantic drumming, lurching guitar, and dissonant accordion that opens first track “All You Can Kill”, one can tell this is going to be a very unique listening experience. After riding this intense rhythm for two minutes, drummer William Bur explodes with a seemingly ad-libbed drum solo before the rest of the band re-enters in a very different mood: this time, a more traditional 4/4 doom metal riff that winds in soft jazz passages and eventually leads into a reprise of the jagged opening but with a Meshuggah-esque twist on the notes being played – one was reminded of “Neurotica” from their seminal album Chaosphere. It’s a gobsmacking way of opening the album, but CKRAFT is just getting started with the mind- and face-melting.
“Steadfast” is another standout: beginning with a drum beat (and tone) undeniably reminiscent of Danny Carey revving up the start of a Tool song (think “The Grudge”, but more pounding and sinister instead of contemplative), the accordion and sax take center stage as the song blossoms over its repetitive, hypnotic rhythm section. Here, the band makes good on keeping the groundwork of the song relatively simple while layering the noodling insanity on top – and succeed in making it memorable without the need for vocals.
By contrast, the following “Misconstruction of the Universe” has an understated start with soft rim shots, honking staccato horns and guitar chords that remind of King Crimson during their 80s new wave era – “Waiting Man” comes to mind in particular. After letting these sounds marinate for a minute-and-a-half, the band turns on the distortion and lets loose some truly demented grooves and leads: first from the accordion shrieking like an ancient banshee, then the guitar finding some odd harmonic dissonance in the noise, then the saxophone reaching up to a terrifying crescendo…and then, after several seconds of silence as the instruments ring out, the drums, bass and accordion come back in for an outro jam that once can only describe as Mr. Bungle-ish. There’s something almost unserious, even satirical, about it that recalls the ending of their jazz-metal epic “Carry Stress in the Jaw”.
From the more traditional melodic prog metal sounds of the title track all the way up until the closer “Nostre” – which spends its first minute layering the accordion and saxophone onto subtle bass guitar before dropping into what could almost pass for a latter-day Gojira riff with its urgent, propulsive triplet-infused structure providing another strong foundation for the nontraditional instruments to take the lead into a final sludgy breakdown – CKRAFT showcase over and over again their mission statement. Their music is intricate and avant-garde, but not to such a degree that it is impenetrable. By stripping down their rhythms to immediacy by way of brute force, CKRAFT allows their compositions to develop and stick in the mind, unlike so much technical jazz fusion which can feel as though it’s passing in one ear and out the other. By contrast, the songs on Uncommon Grounds are consistently engaging, unpredictable, and rewarding – a must-hear for metalheads, jazz snobs, and fans of music that shows instead of telling.
