Review: Kungens Män - Tomhetens Furste

Eggs In Aspic are going from strength to strength...following on from their brilliant recent Black Doldrums, Skyjelly and Oulu Space Jam Collective releases comes this...a three track tape of simply sublime psychedelia from Sweden's Kungens Män. The band are very much masters of improvisation and their jams are reminiscent of Swedish legends Träd, Gräs & Stenar. 'Tomhetens Furste' ('The Prince of Emptiness') follows on from their debut vinyl LP 'Förnekaren' in 2015 and 'Stockholm Maraton' a year later (both on Adansonia Records) and 'Bränna tid' from earlier this year. If you, for some reason, are not au fait with this band, I recommend you get yourself to their Bandcamp page where a host of psychedelic goodies await.

'Tomhetens Furste' is made up of 3 three tracks. The opener, and title track, 'Tomhetens furste' is simply gorgeous...a 22 minute odyssey into the realms of improvised psych jamming par excellence. What this is not is a blistering shredfest...it is an exercise in tone and restrain, the guitar is rich and rounded creating an atmosphere of hazy tranquillity whilst soft drones fill the empty spaces. It is simply divine...it is the sort of jam that envelopes the listener and transports them to better, sunnier places, forgetting the parlous global state of affairs. 'Är det jag?' opens with a simple repeated guitar motif over which intone some lugubrious vocals. It has a feel of Can about it; the same rich guitar tones, motorik drums and the same vocal charm of Damo. The track gets gradually more frenetic over the course of its 10 minutes, the vocals become manic and the intensity of the music increases...great stuff indeed! The final track is 'En andra natur', the shortest of the three tracks and launches immediately into a hectic, intense jam full of power, fuzz, wah-wah and feedback. The power of the guitar is matched by some scatterdrum drumming and flashes of electronica, barely audible amongst echo laden stabs of guitar. Unlike most jams which start slow and build up, this does the opposite - the initial power and intensity eventually makes way for something more structured with some jazzy drums, pulsating basslines and more of that chiming guitar.

'Tomhetens Furste' is a pretty damned awesome outing for the Kungens Män guys...only three tracks, over the course of which they show their versatility, going from sublime, summery vibes to more intense psychouts via some top notch krautrock. The musicianship is masterful and surely puts these guys at the top of that growing list of brilliant Scandenavian outfits. It is an unqualified success for both band and label. The cassette can be purchased via the Eggs In Aspic webstore here (get in quick, it is on pre-order at the mo and going fast!) and is a strictly limited run of 50 (and includes hand-made artwork and free Bubs Swedish raspberry and liquorice candy.)