Forming on the backstreets of suburban Darwin, KOH are a modern metal outfit drawing influence from metalcore, groove metal and djent. Emerging in 2024, the band quickly gained momentum with early releases “Follow Your Ghost” — winner of the Northern Territory Music Award for Metal/Hardcore Song of the Year in 2025 — and “River Mirror”, which followed shortly after and took home the same award this year.
Across seven tracks, their debut EP Golden Death explores the idea of stripping yourself back and rebuilding into something new, representing growth despite hardship and the discomfort that comes with change.
From confronting toxic cycles and past trauma to challenging systems of power, identity and belief, each song on Golden Death represents a different stage of that transformation. Below, vocalist Andy Kala dives into the meaning behind each track and the ideas at the heart of KOH‘s debut release.
To me, the EP represents a lot of growth and change, especially amongst the band. We went through a lot of periods of working out everyone’s dynamics in the setting of writing and releasing an EP. Thematically, it’s about the greatest transformation of self through the greatest trials. Not about death itself, but more so in alignment with what “Death” means in tarot readings.
Aurea Mors
AUREA MORS is the entry into where the EP is going to take you, and is meant to give BLASPHEMOUS context and anticipation. It also serves as the transition from where the EP loops back around when the final track fades out and this one fades in again.
Blasphemous
BLASPHEMOUS is about religious and community exclusion, sort of an angry letter from those who felt like their place in their familiar spaces wasn’t validated or appreciated. It translates to a story of being looked down on, but eventually puffing your chest out and saying, “F*** You! I AM the Blasphemous.”
River Mirror
RIVER MIRROR takes the Ancient Greek story of Narcissus and gives it some groove. It’s aimed at self-absorbed people who don’t care for anything or anyone around them. One of my favourites, which we all had a great hand in writing the lyrics for together.
Immolate
IMMOLATE is a bit of an anti-corporate mosher. You can relate it to genocide, deforestation, or anywhere a company takes and destroys what’s not theirs to take or destroy. To “Burn it all” is to push back against the covetous, the oppressors, and start again.
Lightless
LIGHTLESS takes references from various media and infuses them with the message of Golden Death. It’s the nerdy song, so if you’re into FromSoftware, you might catch a few references here…
Follow Your Ghost
FOLLOW YOUR GHOST is about reliving old memories in your head and allowing them to manifest into a poor state of mind. Much of it is a plea not to dwell on times when you were involved with something or someone that wasn’t good for your wellbeing. It defames the ghosts of the past so you can move on and live a better life. The song is really chaotic and aggressive, and I feel it really spoke to me when we were writing it.
Golden Death
GOLDEN DEATH is the final capstone to the EP. We wrote it last, and it represents the entire collection of songs while reiterating the overall theme and meaning. It’s about the final transition into something greater through the worst circumstances.
Golden Death is out now and streaming everywhere.
