Kryptograf Premiere The Eldorado Spell in Full; Album Out Friday
Bergen, Norway, classic heavy/progressive rockers Kryptograf release their second full-length, The Eldorado Spell, through Apollon Records on Feb. 25. The follow-up to the four-piece’s well-received late-2020 self-titled debut is preceded by standalone singles made for “The Well” and “Cosmic Suicide,” both of which are included here as well as part of an overhead view of a garden of vintage delights. The sometimes-progressive-leaning outfit aren’t through opening track “Asphodel” before they’ve cut from their post-Witchcraft riffing into an acoustic led frolic nodding toward later-Ozzy Black Sabbath, but it’s ultimately the retro influence that wins out in terms of defining their sound — that is to say, Kryptograf build on the aesthetic pioneered by bands like Graveyard and the aforementioned Witchcraft, more than they try to pretend the last half-century of heavy rock never happened.
Either way you go, The Eldorado Spell is duly captivating for its 45-minute run, and further establishes Kryptograf among Northern Europe’s next-generation retro-ist practitioners in bands like Demon Head, Dunbarrow, Stuck in Motion and so on. While keeping an abidingly organic feel, however, Kryptograf don’t lean on aesthetic to take the place of songwriting. The chugging nod groove of “Cosmic Suicide” is familiar enough sounding as an execution of genre, but “Lucifer’s Hand” dips into more severe atmospherics in its second half, and “Creeping Willow” effectively pays off its early tension in a searing guitar solo later on; traditionalist, to be sure, but engaging that tradition toward its own ends as each piece of The Eldorado Spell makes its presence known 
while serving the grander purpose of the album as an entirety. Worth noting that at 45 minutes, The Eldorado Spell is actually on the longer end of a release of its style, but the proggier sides of “Creeping Willow” and the title-track — the fluidity with which the latter evolves into a kind of moody pastoralism of interwoven layers of guitar and spoken vocals, for example — account for that differential, and even in the interludes “Across the Creek” and the penultimate, mellotron-inclusive “Wormwood,” the time is not at all misspent.
If anything, the burgeoning patience in Kryptograf‘s sound speaks well of the direction Kryptograf are headed, but they still have the energy in their approach to pull influence from “Chylde of Fire” for the closer “The Well” at the end of side B’s immersive run through cuts like “The Spiral” and the bluesy “When the Witches,” with the latter being about as spacious as the band gets in its extended solo jam sounding improvised in its foundation but moving smoothly back to the chorus just the same. Kryptograf are growing, and that’s audible throughout The Eldorado Spell both in the standout pieces like “Cosmic Suicide” and “Creeping Willow” as well as in how the last three tracks flow one into the next. That growth — something to appreciate in itself, mind you — doesn’t take away from the depth of their craft here, however, and as they continue to develop aspects like the multi-vocalist arrangements and to find their niche between proto-metal, classic doom and progressive rock, the identity they’ve begun to shape will likewise find its form. What matters today is that The Eldorado Spell rocks, but it’s the manner in which it does so that will keep listeners returning to the full-LP experience on offer.
I dug the first record but didn’t get to properly cover it (look for it as a Friday Full-Length in a couple years, I guess), so it’s with marked pleasure that I can host the stream of The Eldorado Spell in its entirety ahead of the release. You’ll find it streaming on the player below, followed by a few preliminaries courtesy of the PR wire.
As always, I hope you enjoy:
Kryptograf is back with their second album The Eldorado Spell, to be released in February 25th on Apollon Records.
Inspired by the heavy sound of the late 60s and 70s, the four old souls in Kryptograf from Bergen, Norway will hex you with their collective vocals, destructive riffs and inventive songwriting.
Kryptograf is an eclectic but fiercely focused addition to the doomy Bergen underground.
Tracklist
1. Asphodel
2. Cosmic Suicide
3. Lucifer’s Hand
4. Creeping Willow
5. Across The Creek
6. The Eldorado Spell
7. The Spiral
8. When The Witches
9. Wormwood
10. The Well
Line-up:
Vegard Strand – Guitar / Vocals
Odd Erlend Mikkelsen – Guitar / Vocals
Eirik Arntsen – Drums / Vocals
Eivind Standal Moen – Bass
This sounds great, thanks for posting it. It’s has that retro & familiar vibe yet avoids sounding derivative. Has lots of sonic surprises that keeps my ears interested.
[…] Rock, Norvège) a mis son nouvel album en écoute ici. The Eldorado Spell sort le 25 février sur Apollon […]