BISMARCK – Vourukasha

The opening few bars of the title track leaves no doubt as to who and what this is; a frightening audio onslaught by the Norwegian doom metal freaks known as Bismarck. Vourukasha takes me back to their debut offering (Oneiromancer from 2020) in terms of its thunderously heavy tone and strangely mesmerizing atmosphere, but these gentlemen have obviously progressed as songwriters and the arrangements offer a few more surprises and twists than any of their previous outputs do. Fear not, however, as the oppressive and claustrophobic aura synonymous with the group remains intact and runs like a red thread through its six lengthy compositions. The raw, fuzz-soaked riffs blend superbly well with the harsh and caustic vocals all the while the rumbling bass lines and skull-rattling drums provide a firm backbone and a lot of drive. In many ways, their particular brand of vicious and apocalyptic doom metal sounds and feels different to so much else out there, which is testament to the skill and unique sound of the band, and their filth-flecked yet esoterically rich material adds a nice touch of melodicism and downtrodden majesty to the genre that sets them apart from their contemporaries. The droning, trance-like vibe of ‘Kigal’ is just to die for, the scorching and unpredictable ‘Echoes’ might in fact be their finest piece of work to date, and the way in which those folk-esque ideas with a Middle Eastern twang to them have been woven into the mix is simply brilliant. Fans of stoner rock, doom metal, post-rock, and arguably even dark ambient ought to consume and absorb Vourukasha.