Swedish three piece outfit, Domkraft follow up last year’s self titled EP with this full length effort drawing on reliable influences like Neurosis, Sleep and Black Sabbath. They’ve gone in search of raw groove and psychedelia with bassist and vocalist, Martin Wegeland being a believer in repetition and volume, so let’s see how successful their quest has been.
Thick, weighty slabs of doom and stoner inspiration arrive in the form of “The Rift”. The track is a building wave before an absolutely humongous riff that just keeps on rolling. Relentless and turgid with effects soaked vocals, there’s an aura of desperation that pervades on this impressive 10 minute feast of an opener that is more than a little addictive. Keeping that momentum going, “Meltdown Of The Orb” has a smooth continuity where the band find that groove then seamlessly twist it in other directions but always keep it around an axis they naturally return to. Interestingly it gives these tracks a very organic feel with the way they grow and explore. Cleaner sounding than Sleep but with that similar epic, mind bending journey approach, this one climaxes in a frantic spaced out orgy of sound.
Much like Black Sabbath did so well, Domkraft throw in a brief, introspective instrumental in “Drones” which serves to accentuate the heavy sounds that bookend it. There’s hints of Eastern tinged beauty on “All Come Hither” which at times is simply monolithic and hypnotic with pleading vocals creating an atmosphere of despair and desperation. Not until later in the album does the pace dare to quicken with the urgency of “Dustrider”, where some aggression and bite starts to creep in. A “Dopethrone” era Electric Wizard-style beast crashes through in the form of “We Will Follow” to close the album in style with a filthy dirge of bass driven riffs. Guitarist Martin Widholm really cuts loose over the ever present power drumming of Anders Dahlgren and there’s more a sense of freedom on display here. This is an appropriate finish to what has been a very cool journey.
There’s no reinvention of the wheel on “The End Of Electricity” but the beauty lies in the organic way these tracks grow around some beautifully crafted and very tight grooves. With moments of pure heads down riffing of the highest quality, it’s almost cathartic and there’s a lot to like here. Domkraft is certainly worth keeping tabs on.
(8/10 Johnny Zed)
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