S:T Erik - From Under The Tarn

S:t Erik are a Swedish psychedelic doom band. These are unknown to me but the frightening thought when I first checked out this 5-tracker was that it was over 48 minutes long, more “bong” for your bucks I guess! I have seen a few reviews where people have compared them to a heavier OM, but as I am not in tune with them, I really cannot comment. To me, this is more like a slab of early Electric Wizard or Witchsorrow mixed with the madcap space ritual Hawkwind keyboard sounds.

‘Goddess’ is heavy, slow and satisfying, there is nothing new or complicated about this release, it is simple but competent slab of doom with a fragrance of hippy drug culture.  ‘Your Highness’ is also a tune that I find rather cool, and consistency in the recording ensures that quiet moments are thoroughly backed up with a tremendous avalanche of power and the ability of this band to convey such an energy results in a release where you can sit back relax and truly immerse yourself within the dreamy atmospheric that is their debut effort.

Critically some of the tunes are a little too long, your feelings expire long before the end of tracks like the 13 plus minutes ‘Swan Song’, but I cannot deny that what this band has is rather special. Dependent on your mood, you could be in for a treat, this is certainly a band to watch for in regards future releases.