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KING HEAVY
Guardian Demons

Cruz Del Sur Music (2018)
Rating: 8.5/10

What is this that stands before me? Time for some doom metal hocus pocus with King Heavy. Guardian Demons is the sophomore outing from this miserable bunch of mainly Chileans who, out of Santiago, have mastered the art of providing monstrous, monolithic quakes of dooooom!

Fronted by the rather unnerving cries of Belgian vocalist Luce Vee, this creepy clan of underground dwellers have been bombarding listeners with their quicksand drools since the dark ages of 2012, and I just can’t get enough of this spooky show. The greatest aspect about this grandiose lump of Gothic plod ‘n’ roll is its ability to create such a fusty atmosphere; I recommend listening to this heap while laying in a coffin as you hear the great riffs of Matias Aguirre resonate through the stuffy wooden walls.

The doom metal scene has been clogged for years, and more so since the likes of Electric Wizard and a whole host of Black Sabbath imitations emerged. Deep within the black hole, however, there are some genuinely oaken acts heaving mightily and one such colossus is King Heavy; a deliciously airless troupe that bring huge dollops of traditional metal stodginess and coat it all in a rumbling, thunderous shroud of doominess. It’s real doom; there’s nothing false about the immovable ‘(Death Is But An Extreme Form Of) Narcosis’ or the equally shadowy ‘Come My Disciples’, a ten-minute epic that oozes and snoozes like a snoring, snorting behemoth.

Yeah, yeah… the expected influences always come through; flecks of Candlemass, Saint Vitus and Pentagram emerge, only with extra cobwebs and grave fumes thrown in. But there’s also a ghoulish zaniness about this combo as they sneak and leak their way through the opening title track with mention of how “the Devil has got you” to an orchestra of Gothic, 70s dehydration. On the aforementioned ‘(Death Is But An Extreme Form Of) Narcosis’, meanwhile, the cries of “Are you getting sleepy?” and “Things are getting creepy” perfectly summarise this rather bewitching castle of sound; each track is played out like some blood-soaked and dusty theatrical play, the horrors booming from a wall of guitar, bass and drum.

A mighty fortress of creaking and croaking forces, age is etched upon every instrument as they are dusted off in order to cause the quake of ‘Cult Of The Cloven Hoof’; a Hammer Horror escapade enriched with haunted house groans as riff after solid riff rolls in from the coast and plays pitter-patter with the window panes. Chills abound in the equally atmospheric bellowing of ‘As In A Nightmare’ as haunting gales toy with the reaching trees as the words “If this is not a dream, I must get out of here, out of here” resonate through the rafters and cause a colony of bats to flutter wildly from the eaves.

King Heavy is classic doom metal with all the trimmings; the music is beckoning and boastful although not necessarily showy – the ghouls in attendance simply bestowing upon us ancient sounds and organic forces that drip with menace and melancholy. It’s doom metal how doom metal should be played; ghastly, suspenseful, and yet all the while making you aware that its horrors are lurking nearby in reality.

Neil Arnold

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