REVIEW: Zak Kusz - Mourning Rainbows

Straight outta Kalamazoo

23:29 // August 8, 2025 // Self-Released

Back in the early 2010s, I was briefly enamored with the trend of solo guitarist acts, like Cloudkicker and Sithu Aye, who were cranking out djenty prog-metal tunes. With time, I largely lost interest, the shift attributable to the facts that 1) atmosphere and emotion tend to be much more important priorities for my musical preferences than technical proficiency, and 2) my mind fails to really grab onto a lot of instrumental songs as particularly memorable.

Even if the latest venture from Kalamazoo artist Zak Kusz, a six song EP, isn’t really in the same subgenre as the aforementioned artists (it’s more “metal-adjacent” than truly “metal”), I view its overarching quality primarily through the lens of its shattering of those barriers to my enjoyment of this kind of music. Mourning Rainbows manages to feel touchingly moving, at least at times, and is also often remarkably catchy without resorting to vocals, let alone lyrics.

While it’s understandable why Kusz would entitle this product with this two word moniker (it sounds totally badass, after all), Mourning Rainbows suggests an odd juxtaposition - visions of gloomy black veils clashing with vibrant chromatic arrays. Surprisingly enough, though, there’s enough diversity in mood present in these tunes to cover this wide variance with aplomb. The opening duo of “Gold Leaf Fable” and “Candid Poses” displays this - both are quite groovy and engaging, but the former feels notably upbeat, the latter much darker. Meanwhile, “Coral Sky”, is stunningly peaceful, presenting a lovely aquatic vibe a thousand miles away from any negative emotion, while “Mogwai” frowns and broods. Meanwhile, if “Ciorap” is a bit disappointing, its extremely brief runtime leaving little impression, the closing title track is absolutely striking, a dreamily lush feel melding nicely with a sternly powerful backbone. All these descriptors make it clear that Mourning Rainbows manages to capture a sweeping range of vibes and textures. There’s enough going on to reward focused listens, and certain moments (and melodies) may well get stuck in your head, but it’s also laid-back enough to function capably as lovely background music. Even if I have a few gripes, notably that “Ciorap” doesn’t justify its petite inclusion in the tracklist and “Mogwai” kinda peters out, all in all, the results are quite impressive, and feels like a notable step up in confidence and execution from an already solid back catalog. If a summery collection of instrumental tunes piques your interest, you could do a whole lot worse.

8/10