Portuguese instrumental heavy psych band Desert Smoke recently dropped their latest release ‘Karakum‘, a 35 minute trip of sonic, sludgy, and spacey Sabbath jams delivered with mystical precision.
Their sound is deeply rooted in heavy psych while meticulously balancing doom, stoner, and space rock influences led by the twin guitars of André Pedroso Rocha and João Romão. The tone is set pretty quickly as ‘Darvaz‘ batters down the door with monstrous riffs that build a veritable wall of sound backed by the bone-crushing rhythm section of João Nogeuira on bass and Claudio ‘Pidgeon’ Aurélio on drums.
The towering 12-minute ‘Solar Jam‘ starts out slow, heavy, and ominous but you can feel the tension with the long exploratory opening passage building into a kinetic and epic symphony. ‘Mystic Lunar Ship‘ has a muscular Tool vibe with a bassline that grooves and morphs into an all-out headbanger. At 9:51 in length album closer ‘Gates of Karakum‘ is a buffet of doomy riffs, psychedelic melodies, and stoner grooves.
Pick it up from Ragingplanet here.
