This is the seventh album from Norwegian doom/stoner metal band Kal-El.
Hot on the heels of Astral Voyager Vol. 1 from last year, Kal-El have now returned with the promised second instalment of this double album. Astral Voyager Vol. 2 brings us 43 minutes of new material, so get ready to rock.
Astral Voyager Vol. 2 offers up a compelling blend of stoner rock, heavy metal, and doom metal, and it would be churlish to turn down its charming advances. This is an album that’s warm, welcoming, and luscious. It’s also nicely heavy, and kicks out the jams accordingly. It follows on naturally from its predecessor, only it seems to have a higher amount of doom metal components. This works a treat, and makes for the best songs too – The Nine, Juggernaut and Asteroid – although every song here is basically a highlight.
The songwriting is strong throughout Astral Voyager Vol. 2. Each song does its own thing within the whole, providing the listener with a wealth of hooks, riffs, and soaring vocals to explore. The music boasts rich melodic layers and gorgeous clean singing. It has a fuzzy heaviness that’s endearing, driven by riffs that hit the spot. The songs sound huge, delivering a feast of textured immersion and distorted beauty for the listener to eagerly devour.
For most bands playing this sort of stoner doom style, their efforts are so generic as to be instantly forgettable. Thankfully, Kal-El are different. They have a secret ingredient, known only to themselves, that makes their music sparkle with a flavour all of its own. It’s certainly of the genre it purports to be, yet is simply an exceptionally strong example of it. Kal-El don’t avoid the tropes of the style, so much as use them so well that you remember why they became tropes in the first place. Kal-El are an exemplary band, showing the others how it’s done. All of which makes this record far more enjoyable than most. This, in many ways, is the highest praise; Kal-El have that something special that makes their music better than almost all of their peers. Astral Voyager Vol. 2 has that ineffable something that only the best bands can offer.
Very, very good stuff from Kal-El. A strong record from a strong band. There is high quality melodic worldbuilding, crushing riffs, soaring clean singing, and atmospheric depth aplenty. Astral Voyager Vol. 2 once again sees Kal-El ascend to the heavens, surveying all that they see, and claiming it as their own.
Very highly recommended for fans of bands such as Black Sabbath, Church of Misery, Beastwars, Corrosion of Conformity, Goya, Green Lung, Monolord, Orange Goblin, Rezn, Sleep, The Sword, Windhand, etc.
Wonderbox Metal 