I gotta say I am shocked that Born of Obsidian is Sheffield stalwarts Kurokuma’s first full-length release. It feels like they have been in the front ranks of the UK underground for aeons. Their 2016 E.P. Advorsus was a slab of delicious psychedelic filth that still darkens my ears to this day. The band also stick in my memory for two bitter sweet moments. I purchased one of their wonderful “Make Sludge Grim Again” hats which I wore with pride to a Sleep gig at the Kentish Town Forum , only noticing on the train home that my head was cold and said titfer had been let loose in the big smoke. Fly Free young merch! (It was its first outing FFS). Then just as the plague descended in 2020 and we were all forced inside Kurokuma live streamed a transcontinental show with Friendship from Japan who they had been due to support on a jaunt round these fair isles. It was the first of many streamed gigs I enjoyed and just like many things the first was one of the best and hardest hitting. The atmosphere and gravitas they mustered in what looked like an aircraft hangar was bombastic.
Drummer Joe Allen is instantly recognisable from his appearances in his head shop during the lauded (but very Sheffield centric) Doom Doc. This man and his bandmates are true torchbearers of the underground DIY Doom scene. Born of Obsidian is the album that should make folks the world over sit up and take notice (or lay down on the floor clinging on for dear life as the bass rumbles over them).
So, into the music I plunge. First off it must be noted how much variation there is on the 5 tracks of this album, which is not always the case nowadays. There is nowt wrong with setting your stall out and keeping a groove and feel going for 40 mins. Some of my fave releases ever have done just that. Born of Obsidian metamorphosises throughout, offering variation and multiple textures. That is not to say that this is a scrap book of ideas, definitely not. Each of the quintet of compositions fits perfectly with its companions but there is certainly plenty of differences to stop them melding into one homogenized lump.
From the opening cow bell of “Smoking Mirror” I was right on board and strapped in. The Latin rhythms get the old hips swaying and the riffs are skull crushing. The South American influence is strong throughout the album, in the sounds, the song structures and the lyrical themes. The opener has sections that feel like an Aztec Black Metal ritual – I can imagine encountering my spirit animal whilst grooving to this glorious cacophony.
“Sacrifice to Huitzilopochti” is gnarly stoner riff laid over an absolutely filthy industrialdeathhardcore chimaera of a track – it is like a doom sludge cousin of Nailbomb! Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck! The kind of make St Vitus dance causing music that Jesus Built My Hotrod was the first time I heard it. This makes me want to writhe on the ground and garble in tongues!
“Jaguar” was written as an incantation and references the Olmec, a civilization that predate the Aztecs from 1500 BC who conducted ceremonies to transform people into jaguars and this track is representative of one of those ceremonies. It would be churlish of me not to mention Sepultura’s Roots which is now derided by many. However, the traditional elements that the Brazilians brought into that album stand the test of time and some of the percussion and rhythm styles can be heard on this track alongside some massive psyche sludge riffing. The use of traditional sounding instruments shines throughout the album (I have no clue what the band were using in the recording). The shakers that usher Ololiuqui in, are quickly joined by concrete heavy riffs and pounding drums that lead onto a haunting dark sludge journey with brooding overtones. The rasped vocals claw at the track like fingernails on a coffin lid. Then the crustiest bassline begins and the song is transformed into a spacey doom crust jamboree!
How can they follow that? Well with the samba like rhythms of “Under the Fifth Sun” that’s how. I am not gonna lie the percussion on this track has got my shoulders, hips and legs moving in synchro. The bass builds and builds and the track changes pace and stratosphere and invades my ears a la Wrath of Khan with an alien ear worm. This is Ufomammut territory here. Ooooof! Bizarrely the riff here reminds me of a slowed down dooooomed out version of “Abigail” by King Diamond (Abigail – don’t you think I know what you’ve done?”. Once you hear it you will sing along with gusto!
Well, it is early doors in 2022 but Kurokuma have set the bar pretty damn high for albums already. This is chock full of dancing rhythms, crushing riffs, soaring sonics and smoke drenched neck wreckers. Bloody marvellous.
(9/10 Matt Mason)
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