ALBUM REVIEW: Day of Doom Live – Domkraft

DOMKRAFT are masters in building sonic worlds that expand. From the opening, distorted chords of The Rift, this Swedish trio of noise-makers loop riffs, basslines and pounding drums into psychedelic, reflective sludge.

It’s crushingly heavy but never to the detriment of the mournful vocals of Martin Wegeland. His roars and wails permeate the soundscapes in the most cohesive way. Standout track Through The Ashes highlights this as it hits monstrous peaks before slipping into quieter moments of anticipation.

Heavy on the distorted guitar work at first, it opens up when the bluster takes a back seat. Pedal effects add a level of electronic interference, which builds with Wegeland’s desperate vocals. Unlike so many live albums, you get a real sense of the atmosphere here.

When they break into The Watchers, the band pick up the pace again. Swirling guitar work from Martin Widholm interweaves with the rhythm section which pummels its way through the four-and-a-half-minute track to create something that owes as much to classic rock and prog, as it does to doom and sludge.

Meltdown Of The Orb follows this same path, with the instrumental interludes becoming more complex. It’s an impressive show of craftsmanship, which never slips into showmanship. Each note, each riff, each crash of the cymbal adds to the story that DOMKRAFT are building.

In the same way, Flood expands on this experimentation. It’s cyclical to the point that it almost transcends genre, moving into drone or even noise territory, while still keeping that headbanging structure intact.

Through to the end of closing track Landslide, DOMKRAFT achieve that rarest of things. Each carefully laid out set piece still sounds free, as if the band had stepped on stage and jammed for an hour. It’s a testament to their song-writing skills that these complex songs transfer to a live setting so well.

Rating: 9/10

Day Of Doom Live is out now via Magnetic Eye Records.

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