ALBUM REVIEW: It Came From The Void – King Bastard

Since forming in 2018, New York City’s KING BASTARD have been on a tear of releasing crushing psychedelic doom, and it has all culminated in their debut record It Came From The Void. Tweaked and tinkered with over the course of a year, the six tracks assembled here combine traditional doom riffs with experimental jams, played through a sci-fi horror façade. If that doesn’t make for one of the most tantalising debut prospects of 2022, then what does?

Proceedings get under way in an understatedly uncomfortable fashion on From Hell To Horizon, the swelling layers of voice samples, feedback and distortion creating a cacophony that foreshadows cataclysmic events to come. When the first meat-and-potatoes doom riff comes in, it’s played with blistering intensity and the accoutrements that follow show that KING BASTARD are to be taken seriously, even through their bongo-laden drum fills. For all the doom muscle being flexed, there is plenty of proof of talent amongst this young quartet, and throughout the album the listener is treated to multiple percussive forms, a saxophone, heaps of synth and a sprinkling of every doom characteristic you know and love..

Psychosis (In A Vacuum) goes hammer and tongs into the complete other end of the doom spectrum from the opening track, and features the record’s only original vocals. At eight minutes and 13 seconds, this is the second longest track on the record, but flies by in a fraction of that time as the intensity is kicked into high gear and everything is played to breaking point. Crunching guitars, battering drums and a throat-ripping vocal delivery perfectly illustrate the song’s title – this is sheer, unbridled chaos in an uncontrollable environment, and your only choice is to let it happen to you. But with KING BASTARD, you’ll be glad for it.

Herein lies the one potential gripe with this record, though. While the album is following a narrative of the journey of a group of cosmic colonists and the death of Earth, there is a distinct lack of cohesion between the tracks. While you have to give them plaudits for their ability to switch between the scabrously heavy and the chin-stroking noodling elements, it can be a jarring experience to flit so suddenly between the two and risks removing the listener from the experience a little.

Black Hole Viscera does a stellar job though of bridging the brutal outbursts and the more contemplative and experimental stylings of psych-doom, serving up a chugging number with plenty of texture as it drives our cosmic explorer subjects onward to album closer Succumb To The Void. Clocking in at over 10 minutes, this is more truthfully a four minute and 45 seconds song that then does as the name suggests and gives way to a seemingly never-ending cycle of feedback and synth distortion. It’s a visceral trip that allows you an opportunity to digest the sonic journey you have just completed and ties it up neatly in a lovely, existential nightmare of a bow.

Ultimately though, It Came From The Void is a real grower of a record that worms its way into your subconscious on first listen and ensures you come back for more. For a debut effort, there are incredible signs of more to come and KING BASTARD deserve your attention – wherever in the universe you manage to catch them from.

Rating: 8/10

It Came From The Void is set for release on January 14th via self-release.

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