Sunday, 30 September 2018

KAPITAN BONGO ~ ODMȨT ........ review


If Desert Psychlist were to throw you the words "sludgy, prog tinted and metallic" and then ask you a country where you might expect these elements to be found then Poland would possibly come high on your list of suggestions. Poland is fast becoming the go to country for those looking for music of a grainier, grittier and heavier nature and Warszawa four piece Kapitan Bongo's latest release "Odmȩt" is a prime example of why music from  Poland's underground rock scene is currently being held in such high esteem.


With a line up that, along with the usual vocals, guitar, bass and drums, includes the use of synths and West African percussion you might expect Kapitan Bongo's sound to be a little experimental and "out there" and although there are moments when things get a little post-rock and ambient the main body of Kapitan Bongo's groove resides very much at the heavier, sludgier end of progressive metal. Those elements of ambience and post-rock texturing although integral to Kapitan Bongo's overall sound are not always obvious or immediately evident, however. First track "Od mȩt" begins with screeching feedback and synthesised squeaks and swirls before erupting into a grinding heavy mid tempo groove driven by crashing percussion and growling bass around which the guitar lays a mixture of complex chord structures and crunching riffage that, combined with the songs slightly screamo vocal, comes over as technically dazzling yet at the same time vocally disarming. Those screamo vocals are tamped down a notch or two for next track "Klątwa mamuta" and replaced with easier on the ear gruff growling dual harmonies sang over a backdrop of undulating yet still heavy groove that brutalises and soothes in equal measure. "Bezdech" follows and finds Kapitan Bongo in more laid back, considerate mood, clean, mellow yet gritty vocals vying for space with blues tinted guitar motifs and swirling synth/keyboard effects over a foundation of liquid bass lines and shimmering percussion. "Bagno" sees the band mixing post metal textures with those of a more dank doomic nature in a song that never sits still long enough to pin a tag on before finally bringing things to a close with the excellent riff heavy "Czas" a song with a groove so gloriously deep and deliciously dense it almost defies description.



Crushing and complex, considerate and crunching "Odmȩt" delivers everything you could possibly need from a modern underground rock/metal album and more
Check it out ….. 

© 2018 Frazer Jones

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