France’s underground scene is a molten forge right now, spitting out band after band that seem intent on reimagining what brutality truly means. But from deep within the volcanic heart of Réunion Island rises Kaldeira, and their debut full-length Fournaise is not just another slab of Death Metal — it’s an eruption. A pyroclastic flow of devastating riffs, seismic drums, and vocals that sound like they were dredged straight from the earth’s core. This record doesn’t start so much as it detonates.
From the opening seconds, Kaldeira feels like being thrown face-first into an inferno. The guitar tone alone is enough to liquefy bone — like the ghost of early Morbid Angel being dragged through a magma field. The drums don’t so much keep time as they punish it, with relentless blast beats that never let up, crashing against your skull in relentless waves of fury. You don’t listen to Fournaise — you survive it.
What sets Kaldeira apart from the countless legions of “brutal for the sake of brutal” outfits is that there’s intelligence buried beneath the barbarity. Between the violent storms of speed and violence, the band know when to let the groove take hold — moments where the tempo drops and the guitars grind into a deep, suffocating chug that feels like tectonic plates colliding. These passages don’t give you rest; they just change the method of your execution.
Vocally, the performance is pure fire-breathing destruction. The guttural roars are primal, but not directionless — every syllable spat like lava, burning through the mix. There’s a clarity to the chaos, a sense that Kaldeira understand that true heaviness isn’t just about playing fast and loud, but about precision and atmosphere. And Fournaise has atmosphere in spades — a humid, oppressive, smoke-choked air that seeps into your lungs and refuses to leave.
Lyrically and thematically, Fournaise feels apocalyptic in the truest sense. This isn’t just Death Metal about death — it’s Death Metal about havoc, rebirth, and the sheer, unstoppable force of nature itself. The band sound less like musicians and more like elemental beings channeling the rage of a dying world.
By the time the record ends, there’s no catharsis. Just a ringing in your ears and the faint smell of burning flesh. Your burning flesh. Kaldeira have done what the best Death Metal bands always do — they’ve turned chaos into art, rage into rhythm, destruction into beauty.
Fournaise is not for the faint of heart. It’s an endurance test. A true trial by fire. A record that will leave your muscles aching and your soul scorched.
Fournaise is available from the Kaldeira Bandcamp page.
CHOICE CUT: Night of Pain
BLACK METAL ARCHIVES VERDICT: Fournaise is an unrelenting, volcanic triumph of Death Metal extremity — an album that doesn’t just hit hard, it erupts. France has given us another band to fear, worship, and survive. Fournaise have arrived, and they’re bringing the fucking fire.
PRESS SOURCE: Collapse Agency Press.
