IKITAN – Shaping The Chaos

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · March 26, 2025

IKITAN is a heavy instrumental post rock trio from Genoa, Italy. The lineup includes Luca Nasciuti on guitars, Frik Et on bass, and Enrico Meloni on drums. The music is a collective blend of heavy rock, metal, stoner, psychedelic, and progressive. The band released an EP in 2020, entitled Twenty-Twenty, which featured one track at twenty minutes and twenty seconds. In 2021, they released a two track, thirteen minute EP entitled Darvaza y Brinicle. They just released their latest debut full length album called Shaping The Chaos on March 7th 2025. The album is self produced and has nine tracks and is fifty two minutes long. The distribution will be handled by Taxi Driver Records.

The band has described the album as such: “Shaping The Chaos encapsulates the last four years of the band’s life and the conflicting emotions that led to its making. It includes nine self-contained songs, each one inspired by our planet. Curiosity has driven us to cross unusual places and delve into the intricacies of the planet Earth’s inexplicable natural phenomena. Each of these inspires the songs on the album. We go from blood falls to the place where the meteorite that led to the dinosaurs’ extinction fell, from the door to hell to the sound of the world’s loneliest whale.”

“Chicxulub” begins the album with a two minute excursion into the crater from the impact that destroyed the dinosaurs. Strumming clean guitars starts the song and the heavy trebly bass and drums enter in a marching rhythmic stomping. The music adjoins and breaks out in some airy soundscapes while the punchy bass and drums continue their stampede. “Lahar” begins with a low rumble of bass and then has a funky exchange that glides with the drums with some psychedelic guitar echoing. The smooth drum beat ushers the song as the guitars transition into more lead accentuating tones. The music has a consistent build up like a devastating pyroclastic flow. The smashing and crashing rhythms at the end are like a storming eruption of water, ash, and ice, on a path of destruction.

The third track “Darvaza” begins with the bass and the pounding drums and guitars highlighting. The song connects with a cascade of progressive rock and punctuated melodies. The tone heavy bass and pummeling drums are a circulating surge of power that drives the song through all its peaks and valleys. This allows the guitar to illuminate and soar freely. The progy intervals are very enticing as the song floats in fields of burning gas. “Sailing Stones” begins with the strumming bass and leads into a driving rhythm of progressive riff changes. The flow is as natural as rocks floating in an epic windstorm. The trails of dirt in Death Valley are the resulting effect as the music shifts into discordant patterns at the climax of the track. “Natron” has an East African vibe with some Congo-like percussion from guest musician Olmo Manzano, with a new age sounding rhythm. The song picks up after three minutes and incorporates some distorted guitars into the piece. Roberto Izzo provides some nice violin playing and it kind of reminds me of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra as things progress. IKITAN does a wonderful job building upon and adding different sonic effects and sounds to each song, and this is a prime example of that. They understand audio layers and transitions that make each track fuller and more vibrant.

“Bung Fai Phaya Nak” starts a little chaotic and rambunctious but dials things down into a nice and controlled melody. The song jives some upbeat rhythms and siren style leads with clanging bass. It reaches progressive heights towards the end. “Brinicle” begins with clean guitar and a beautiful soft melody. The bass and drums dig into a funky rhythm after about a minute and the song transforms like underwater stalactites of sea ice. The atmospheric harmony is in full swing and the tempo progressions and regressions are tantamount. The music can be ravishing and angular in a notes notice. The eighth track is called “Blood Falls”. It refers to a flow of oxidized iron in Antarctica that looks like blood. The song has an elegant and artistic whirl with a distinguished bass drive. The drums deliver some interesting syncopation with some of the beats as the guitars glide with prominence.

The ninth and final track on Shaping The Chaos is called “52Hz Whale”, which means the loneliest whale. The two minute outro is a mellow bass and clean guitar passage that zones off in a fading sector. IKITAN explore many extraordinary soundscapes on these nine tracks. The band records their own music and are really in tune with each other musically speaking, as they take the listener on a deep journey into hard rock, new age, and eclectic styles of sound. Shaping The Chaos is a very expansive recording that prescribes multiple layers of music and many listens to fully appreciate. There is something very perpetual about these songs that makes IKITAN’s music so unique and enthralling.