ninehertz

Arcane Desert Rituals Vol. 2 is the sequel to last year’s first volume, a band with a vision too vast to fit on one full length; a story that hasn’t yet ended. The title is revealing, King Potenaz have grand plans beyond simply adding their own notes to the stoner and doom lexicon – they’re aim is for something a smidgeon more mystical and less direct. The result is an exciting and meandering journey.

It begins with the album’s single, Summerian Nights, which signals their intent with a quiet, introspective, violin-aided beginning. A marching riff signals the arrival of the main course, of stoner/doom whose fuzzy edges are very familiar. What King Potenaz bring differently is this steady, patient air, creeping along, a little occult doom, the vocals restrained, the whole just a little weird and hypnotic.

Lord of the Rust is more direct, putting the pedal to the floor with an absolutely gorgeous fuzz laden tone which is as much Nebula or Fu Manchu as it is doom. It eventually turns slower and definitively doomier in its second half, camouflaging in the mists that have arisen from out of nowhere. The Nothingness amalgamates clear doom sounds with psych sensibilities, like Elder aping Electric Wizard, whilst barely raising its pulse from a dazed half-sleep, giving it an enchanting mystical aura.

The closing A Crack in the Void (The Empty Hand pt. 2) is a follow on from a song started on that last album. Here they set off on cosmic themed wanderings which gradually darken, again bridging psych and doom, a chemical reaction that finds a medium in stoner rock territories. It is interesting to hear the two songs back-to-back, one flowing into the other nicely. It concludes an ambitious, unrestrained album – set within the worlds we know but venturing across and between freely, giving it an individuality and constant intrigue.