Band:	Kongh
Album:	Sole Creation
Style:	Doom metal, Sludge metal
Release date:	February 2013

01. Sole Creation
02. Tamed Brute
03. The Portals
04. Skymning

Yep. You're done for. Finished, or as they say in Swedish: körd. Take one look at that colossal angry gorilla on the album cover and it's pretty hard not to jump to the conclusion that some serious shit is about to go down. Kongh looks mad, he damn well sounds mad too.

This Swedish two-piece plays a sludge/doom union which well exceeds natural proportions. Who would have guessed that their gargantuan style of booming bass-lines and chest thumping drumbeats called for melodies? Well apparently big ol' Kongh has an ear for them. Not only that but he's also quite the vocalist. Band founder David Johansson displays stunning range as he takes on all manner of gruff hardcore and abrasive variations and at their cleanest they bear a resemblance to Ozzy's early exploits with Black Sabbath, adding a touch of doomed tradition to the proceedings. The coupling of heavily bass accentuated guitars, all ably provided by this remarkably talented musician, and his melodious vocal delivery reminds me of fellow Swedes Grand Magus only they are placed over more elongated rhythms. A nice gritty feel underlies the well mixed guitars making it sound rough but not too rough producing some accessible and gravelly riffs.

By god Kongh even gets the tremolos working which shimmer like moonlight off his silverback on the track "Skymning" which is subtle as it goes about its devastation. Ah but let's not forget the presence of Tomas Salonen whose astute drum patterns fuel Kongh's inner rage. See his determined delivery and the outstanding control he places over his kit in tracks like "Tamed Brute" as he somehow manages to restrain those beastly guitars. The briefly lulled psychadelia akin to the sound of Ufomammut toward the end of that track deceives us all as it is followed by a final onslaught.

Though not bearing the irregular technicalities of the progressive and thoroughly stoner centred sludge of earlier efforts from Mastodon they do serve as a good point of reference. Sole Creation consistently flirts with an obliquely progressive edge that Mastodon have stamped on the genre. It is the melodic sensibilities that bring this out especially, captivating the listener before deviations are made into passages which ambitiously grasp at an Isis-like atmospheric immersion, I'll refer you again to the excellent "Skymning."

Such fine tuning of melodies to this monolith is likely to have doom and sludge fans going ape. If you've found either of these genres difficult to get into allow Kongh to take you up in one gargantuan grip and crush all the resistance out of you.