Obelyskkh, a German four-piece stoner outfit, are obviously keen on self-mythologising. They claim they are known as ‘the phantom of German doom’ because of their apparent reticence to release records, but even a cursory check online reveals that – gut gott in himmell! – White Lightnin’ is the long-playing follow-up to last year’s Mount Nysa album.
Yet instead of calling bullshit on them we should really give them a free pass because these seven tracks do feel like they were carved out of giant slabs of Bavarian stone over the length of a fair-to-middling prison sentence.
Over the last four decades of doom we have moved from inauguration through phases of innovation and consolidation into that of refinement, and only those who recognise this full spectrum of history can continue to make a dent in this mighty genre. Like Obake, Shrinebuilder and UFOmammut, Obelyskkh realise that the genre is now pushed forward more by innovative production technique than by abandonment of the blueprint.
Lysergic brightness combined with bludgeoning weight mean that Obelyskkh may be lying in the grave but they’re staring at the starships overhead.
