ninehertz

Pak40 are a two-piece seemingly split between Scotland Germany, featuring on drums Leo Hancill of Teleost, who themselves released a genuinely incredible album less than a week before this appears. There’s no stopping some artists when they’re on a roll. Both bands are touring the North together right about now.

There are three tracks on Superfortress and not a second of its 23 minutes are wasted. Old Nomad sets the stage with a gorgeous sound and early on I realise it is going to be hard not to repeat many things I said recently about Teleost – the words doom and tone will likely appear many times here – although that’s not to say there’s no distinction between the two. This is deliberate in its slow terraforming approach, where the quieter moments lay the ground for the outbound lurches which are incredibly satisfying. It darkens with the arrival of vocals of an almost trad doom style, giving it an ancient occult feel, the bass working wonders, a wonderful track all round.

If you don’t feel a small thrill in your bones caused by the first few seconds of the title track, then we’re not into the same music. It’s simple, devoted doom, in its tone and with a cool understated groove, the almost OTT vocals fitting despite my natural inclination away from the delivery style, it manages to paint pictures of something practically medieval, the bass still swinging around with an almost lackadaisical freedom that is simply awesome.

The closing Ascend drops down, a drawn-out track of drone repetition restraint, subtly but assuredly dragging you into its meditative state; very nicely done. This is wonderful EP – you couldn’t want for more from a three-track release, save for a full album in its place. It simply sounds and feels exactly as you want doom to, warm and fuzzy, dense in its bulkier moments, a droned-out trip when it goes lighter; Pak40 have it all nailed down.