Stream Kauan’s New Album About the Mysterious Death of Nine Hikers in 1959

Russian/Ukrainian doom outfit Kauan so excited us last year that we decided to premiere a track from their sixth album Muistumia despite never having heard the band before. Kauan are the kind of band whose downtrodden, doomy vibes lull you into an unsettled hibernation, like that feeling you get RIGHT before you pass into unconscious sleep. Maybe drink some coffee before listening to Kauan, because if you let their music lull your eyelids closed you’d have some very weird, disturbing dreams.

The band’s new album Sorni Nai doesn’t come out until November 10th, but you can stream it in full below. It’s a 52-minute single-song opus about the Dyatlov Pass incident, a mysterious incident in the Ural mountains in 1959 in which nine hikers lost their lives. Says Wikipedia:

Investigators determined that the skiers had torn their tents from the inside out in order to escape from an apparent threat. They fled the campsite, some of them barefoot, under heavy snowfall. Although the bodies showed no signs of struggle, such as contusions, two victims had fractured skulls and broken ribs. Soviet authorities determined that an “unknown compelling force” had caused the deaths; access to the region was consequently blocked for hikers and adventurers for three years after the incident. Due to the lack of survivors, the chronology of events remains uncertain, although several theories exist, some involving a possible avalanche, a military accident, or a hostile encounter with extraterrestrial life.

Stream Sornia Nai below. What starts off as a seemingly upbeat piece of music — for a doom band, anyway — quickly turns dark, as you might expect given the subject matter. Pre-order the album here.