Interviews About Albums: IKITAN - Shaping The Chaos (2025)

In this new interview, we sat down with the Italian Post-Rock band IKITAN to ask questions about their album, "Shaping The Chaos".

1. What can you say about Shaping The Chaos, your upcoming debut album?

Shaping The Chaos is our debut album and the result of the last four years of IKITAN’s activity as a band. After “Twenty-Twenty”, a 20-min-20-sec suite we released on 20-11-2020, we felt the need to keep experimenting and decided to go with a more direct approach. Songs are significantly shorter, even though we couldn’t help it and one of them goes over the 10-minute mark (“Natron”). The album contains 9 songs (7 on vinyl as space was limited), some of them come from the same jams that gave birth to “Twenty-Twenty”, so you can expect the trademark “heavy post-rock meets stoner, prog and psych” that has been our offering from day 1.

2. What is the meaning of Shaping The Chaos?

The fil rouge is that each song refers to strange places or inexplicable phenomena of our planet. The idea for the title, which is also depicted in the mind-blowing artwork by Luca Marcenaro, is that IKITAN, the alleged god of the sound of the stones, is literally shaping our Planet Earth.

On the cover of “Twenty-Twenty” (also by Luca Marcenaro), IKITAN came out of the Earth, and this time he’s the one giving Earth a shape. And this results in the creation of strange places or inexplicable phenomena.

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.

3. Which one is the composer of Shaping The Chaos?

“Shaping The Chaos” is the result of our long jams. We record everything that happens in our studio when we play and let our minds go with the instruments, then cherry pick what we like, work on it, etc.

IKITAN is Luca “Nash” Nasciuti on guitar, Frik Et on bass and Enrico Meloni on drums and cowbell.

Everything you hear or watch that regards the world of IKITAN is the result of the three of us working together. We’re three friends building this universe together and we truly like what we do - probably this is the key of everything!

4. If you had to pick one song, which one would you pick?

We have to go with the single, “Sailing Stones”, which came out on Feb 14. It has everything about IKITAN 2025. Here, as well as on the rest of “Shaping The Chaos”, the best parts of “Twenty-Twenty” and its emotional state meet heavier riffs and atmospheres. We’re proud of this song and of the rest of “Shaping The Chaos”.

5. Is there a special message in Shaping The Chaos? If there is, what is it?

We are curious and we love our planet. Sometimes we don’t even know how many amazing things there are out there at our doorsteps, we are not even bothered.

If anything, this album is an invite to go out and explore.

6. Are there some lyrics that you'd love to share?

We have no lyrics as we’re an instrumental band.

7. Which inspirations have been important for this album? Like musically or friends, family, someone you'd love to thank specially?

As bad as it sounds, I think each band only has to thank themselves for sticking to it, not giving up, and believing in the healing power of music and art.

Of course there are relatives, friends and partners that are part of the picture and “make this happen”, as well as the press and anyone who cares to listen to and write about independent music, but the band is the band and it’s a self-sufficient entity.

Talking about inspirations, so many things have happened in the last four years, we can’t even remember all of them. We’ve surely changed somehow as life has been challenging at times but here we are, three dudes who love heavy sounds and have a great time together jamming and letting their minds go free and wild.

8. Something to add?

We’re grateful that websites like yours, Jon, exist. Without this support, music wouldn’t be known and shared among rock and metal maniacs. A huge thanks to all readers of Breathing the Core and anyone who’s been following us these years.

Check out “Shaping The Chaos” and follow us on social media: https://linktr.ee/ikitan