A colossal marriage between Elysium and Abyss – a review of Victoria K’s “Kore”

A path without barriers. From modern Melbourne to the flavors of ancient Greece, Victoria K embarks on an ambitious project that does not disappoint. Entirely composed and arranged by mastermind Victoria Knight, with the support of Lee Bradshaw “Kore” is an amateur colossal.

After a prologue that we could define as full of warmth, like incense in a temple of Phidias, the march of symphonic sonorities begins. “Raptum” and the later “Mother’s Garden” are carved in Homeric stone. The lyrics – loosely inspired by the blind poet’s Hymn to Demeter – embrace the retrieval of antiquity. An archaeological composition, which reworks the traditional music of the Peloponnese and saves Victoria K from the banality of an increasingly plasticized genre.

My Elysian

Stuck in night and day, waiting for madness

I see you’ve grown to my branches

Which have laced for you

With sweet Ambrosia

– From the 4th track “The Child”

These lines, taken from the fourth track “The Child” deserve a standing ovation. The instrumental parts are perfectly integrated into the rest of the opus, and their sinuosity allows “Kore” to maintain a desperate sense of distance and irresolvable nostalgia. The only weakness is perhaps in the excessive length of some intervals.

From “Persephone” to “Pomegranate” the fall into the abyss takes place. A more aggressive sound, a claustrophobic atmosphere, and bloody riffs: the myth of the bride of Hades joins increasingly current problems. In this way, also from a structural point of view, the album obtains a dynamic balance and a Middle Eastern cadence.

The entire apparatus is resolved in “Afterlife”, the most sophisticated piece of the album. In Victoria Knight’s voice there is velvet, in the keyboard the dance of a sun that can be glimpsed and never reaches. Sheri Vengeance’s counter-voice, like a nocturnal deity, makes the finale a cross between a throwback waltz and a hellish hunt.

In conclusion, “Kore” is an ambitious project, which finds its strong point in songwriting. These are poetic pieces that evoke hybrid atmospheres between myth and reality, both in their most complicated appearance. I recommend listening to “Kore” while reading the lyrics: it’s a fundamental step to appreciate the narrative setting. Overall, Victoria K delivers a show that is hard to find anywhere else.