Bergen may be famous for its black metal scene but we’re not in the early 90s and obviously some other great groups were formed there, from the Nordic dark folk of Wardruna to the hard rock hymns of the mighty Audrey Horney, so yes, it seems they have the know-how when it comes to good music in this beautiful city. So, here is another group that just released their second album after the “Kryptograf” album in 2020.
“The distant sound of rain / no longer brings you peace…”
Kryptograf is a band that walks on familiar music paths, retro paths that are actually the footsteps of bands that had been there decades ago but mostly in the late 60s – early 70s period. This quartet plays a doom rock/heavy psych style that is based on the big classic bands like Pentagram and obviously the early Black Sabbath but they add the flavor of bands like Witchcraft (just listen the opener “asphodel” and scream with happiness!) or the way they focused on the Sabbath universe bands like Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats. And although the heavy guitar riffing sets the tone for the album in most compositions Kryptograf isn’t just this because they add some beautiful guitar solo from Strand and Mikkelsen but also some short psychedelic additions here and there that break the monotony. The latter are not that many (comparing to their first release) and some things that were characteristic in the debut album like the 90s fuzz tone seems to have been wiped away. What’s more, the jamming is also way shorter this time as they got more compact and heavier (and probably more focused on their target).
“So you swallowed the sun / just to ease the pain…”
So, is this a good a dark heavy rock album? Yes, indeed, I enjoyed almost everything about it. The colored vinyl (I love the yellow one!), the magician on the cover and the paganistic aura all around but most of all their maturation from their debut that makes this release a bit better although yes, it’s true, they’re not reinventing the wheel (but do we really have to ask this every time instead of just enjoying the music we love?). Now, let’s hope we will see these guys live on stage.
