Polish threesome MAJOR KONG was formed back in 2010, and released their debut album “Doom for the Black Sun” two years later. They have since also launched a second full length production, “Doom Machine”, which saw the light in 2014. A few months after their second album was issued, the band signed with Swedish label Transubstans Records, who subsequently released a vinyl edition of their debut album featuring five of the six tracks from this production.
As one might expect by a band who prominently use the word doom in their album titles, this is a band that are rather fond of their doom metal indeed. Their affection spans multiple artists over several decades it would seem, but at the heart of the sound explored on their debut album is a raw, vintage sound, one that came to be due to a live in the studio recording process from what I understand.
As far as associations and comparisons go, a band like Electric Wizard probably merits a mention here. While they may not be the only band that have used sampled movie dialogues to open their songs, the manner in which Major Kong use this effect on most songs here truly reminds me of a similar feature on Electric Wizard’s classic album “Dopethrone”, and when the music here is fairly similar on some levels as well this is a call that needs to be here.
Major Kong isn’t copying that particular sound however. Their base is in a fairly slow paced version of doom metal true enough, but this trio doesn’t create music as intense or monumental by far. The riffs are dark and hazy, the bass is booming, but without the feeling of imminent implosion you get from the UK doom heroes. Instead Major Kong hones in on a more blues oriented sound that is warmer, nowhere near as muddy sounding and with a distinct psychedelic touch to it. The latter exemplified by the cosmic doom of concluding epic Primordial Gas Clouds with it’s elongated psych-tinged guitar solo as the key feature.
Where Major Kong is missing out a bit is by being an instrumental band however. Their slow paced fuzzy escapades are appealing and groove-laden, but only up to a point. The sheer intensity of opening track Witches on My Land and the nifty alternating frail and hard sequences on Acid Transmission does provide material that is more substantial, but apart from those two tracks these doom-oriented wanderings have a tendency to become too repetitive, lacking that little extra something that will appeal beyond a niche audience. If that is a good thing or a less than good one can of course be a topic of discussion, but ultimately this results in an album with a niche appeal. That’s about the gist of it for this album I guess.
So if a band that has a vintage sounding take on liberally psychedelic flavored doom metal with some distinct pointers in the direction of a band like Electric Wizard sounds like material that will appeal to you, “Doom for the Black Sun” is a production that merits a check.
My rating: 68/100
