Today’s review is of the new record titled Doom for the Black
Sun by Major Kong, an instrumental doom/stoner act from Poland. It contains
exactly the same three members as another Polish band called Fifty Foot Woman -
Dominik Stachyra, Paweł Zmarlak, and Michał Skuła. Fifty Foot Woman was a sick
Kyuss worship band, but that project is on hold at the moment while the band members
concentrate on Major Kong. With the vocals neatly deleted, these three Poles
are taking a jammier, more psychedelic, and considerably slower approach. Kyuss
will always be present in these guys’ sound (I suspect), but Major Kong has
more in common with the likes of Sleep, Electric Wizard and Acid King than
anything else – the doomier side of stoner metal.
My general feeling about this album is that it’s good, but
it doesn’t stand out. The production is not as chunky as Fifty Foot Woman’s and
they haven’t managed to capture the groove of doom as well as they did with
more straight up stoner metal. The best moments are the psychedelic guitar solos.
“Primordial Gas Clouds”, my favorite song on DftBS, is one of the few
moments where MK manage to capture a truly deadly groove and the psych jamming
on lead and bass that rides on it is wicked. If the whole album upheld the
quality of this song, it would be a real winner (though to be honest that song
probably should’ve been a minute shorter). There are moments of awe scattered
throughout the rest of the album, but as a whole it carries on in the same way
for a little too long and breaks no ground on any terms. Movie samples are used
several times, but I didn’t think any of them were particularly apt or funny. Seriously
though, there’s more good than bad here. Kong have a straight-forward, honest
style: slow, heavy, rock music. And I like that. But I still want them to gear up Fifty Foot Woman for a second round.
In summary: Not going to enter the ledgers of legends, but a
very solid release that fans of the genre should certainly try.
Standout tracks: “Primordial Gas Clouds”, “Demolition Whale”
Score: 7.0
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