After nearly a decade of silence, Sweden’s Kongh are back with album number four, entitled Dissolved In Time. For those not in the know, Kongh is the name by which multi-instrumentalist David Johansson releases his visionary doom rock masterpieces. Playing guitars, bass and working electronics, his sound has to be experienced at high volume to truly appreciate it. Having previously toured with Meshuggah and YOB, it’s the latter’s immersive sound that Kongh most closely resonates with.
For this outing David is joined by Christian Augustin (Cult of Luna) and Jörgen Sandström who performed backing vocals, as well as mastering the record. Opener ‘Staining The Ether’ is in no rush to get underway with an elongated passage of clean guitars bringing an uneasy and tense feeling. Eventually drums start to slam and thick distorted fuzzy guitars crash like waves against the rocks, what a groove. Subtly shifting like tectonic plates, the monotonous droning guitars are joined by David’s blackened growl. It’s a monstrous proggy sludge dreamland pulling the listener in and engulfing them. As the song progresses David brings in sublime melodies as his voice morphs into an Ozzy-like rasp. A host of demonic voices swirl in the mix as the riffs spider out into violent patterns. Like a candle burning to the end the song ebbs to a languid passage as the drums are virtually snuffed out. This gives the band the chance to build up to another big release and the drop of crushing guitars and crashing drums hits hard, as the band lock into a grinding barrage of riffs and David chants a monotone mantra.
‘Guided To The End’ wastes no time getting to it with a chiselled riff and almost glam stomp drums. David has a splendid spooky tone to his voice as he wreaks havoc like an evil wizard spitting out his lyrics venomously. Yet the undertow of the song is strongly melodic and dare I say it, almost playful. It’s a strange fusion yet it works and that amazing guitar tone has incredible depth and is hugely satisfying. The solo that ends the song is a psychedelic wonder.
‘Dissolved In Time’ flows like thick lava with churning guitars and a bowel shaking bass groove. Getting musical instruments to sound like this is an amazing feat. There’s such a mighty feel to Kongh’s awesome sound. Taking what feels like forever to settle into a steady dreamlike groove, David gets to sing with a stately cleaner vocal. It’s not long before the volume swells and David reverts to his nasty growl, as layers of doom push and pull the listener apart. For the final passage David repeats the lyric “Dissolved in time…in time” and it becomes a weirdly euphoric droning mantra.
Kongh were a new name to me and on hearing lead track ‘Staining The Ether’ I ventured back to listen to their other albums. With an outstanding back catalogue of more of these winding grinding doom masterpieces I was only disappointed I hadn’t come across them sooner. Much like YOB, you need to set yourself down and become immersed in these elongated compositions, just let them wrap themselves around you. If you’ve never experienced the might of Kongh I strongly urge you to seek them out.
