Thursday 9 January 2014

Major Kong - Doom Machine (Album Review)


Album Type : Full Length
Date Released :  20/1/2014
Label : Bandcamp

Doom Machine, album track listing :

1). Doom Machine 05:46
2). Tractor Beam 05:07
3). Planets & Suns Consumed 09:59
5). Voidwagon 04:25
5). Skull of the Titan 09:31

The Band :

Dominik Stachyra| Bass
Pawel Zmarlak | Drums
Michal Skula | Guitar

Review :

While there's definitely a time and a place to allow Major Kong to batter your eardrums and lure you from the harshness of reality and into a spaced-out land where Black Sabbath is an omnipresent God and we are all their obedient servants, when that time comes, Doom Machine is a damn fine record.

Instrumental doom crawling its way out of Poland’s murky underground; the trio from Lublin formed in late 2010 and have since released four riff-laden EPs. Initially, they were a mere side project to sit alongside their parent band, Fifty Foot Woman. Soon however, they realised they was something stirringly special with this beast and slowly, the band named after a character from Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 comedy, Dr Strangelove became their main musical focal point.
Dubbing their music “slow guitar hypnosis,” paints a fairly accurate picture of what this band is about.  Across Doom Machine’s five tracks, totalling just less than 35 brutal minutes, your ears are treated to an assault of slow, brooding riffs. 

Tractor Beam leads with a snarling, wah-wah riff that demands your attention, while Voidwagon offers a similar grooving bombast, complete with blood curdled screams from that much loved pedal. Misiek’s guitar tone is unassailably menacing, wrapped in a filthy fuzz that gives even Fu Manchu a run for their money. His vibrato meanwhile, is highly noteworthy. The sustain he gets as he bends the string, treating it like a dog gives his sound an enormous rattling quality, tailor made for a stoned audience. 

They get a great dissonance in chord based movements which perch themselves between those signature beating riffs that have been winning them so many fans. While they remain unsigned, you’re left to wonder what piece of the puzzle if missing from their arsenal to tempt the labels into making a move. Their musicianship is unquestionably strong, with Planets & Sun Consumed and Skull Of The Titan, both of which surpass the nine minute mark and maintain the listeners attention and interest all the while proving just that. Perhaps then, their instrumental nature limits their commercial value; after all, that is what a label needs to stay alive. Yet, if they were to add vocals to their palette there is the fear that this band would lose their charm. Some gems are destined to remain undiscovered and unsigned; their cult following to be nothing more than that. So long as they keep producing this kind of noise, I’m happy either way.

Words by : Phil Weller

You can buy it from 20/1/2014 here

For more information :