Album Review: Conny Ochs – Doom Folk

His back catalogue of solo albums and collaborations with doom godfather Wino has seen Conny Ochs build a reputation as a purveyor of all-acoustic darkness par excellence. On Doom Folk, however, the German songwriter unveils a belated willingness to use such radical elements as organ, bass and drums. His most accessible work by some distance, it finds his habitual starkness replaced by a comparatively welcoming sonic approach.

Opener Dark Tower is a tribute to Chris Cornell that you could imagine the great man himself singing, while Crawling is built on admirably swampy stoner riffs. Elsewhere, Hammer To Fit and Gun In The Cradle evoke Chuck Ragan and Frank Turner respectively. But while songs like Oracle benefit from skilful arrangements, Moon shows that Conny is still at his best when stripped right back to acoustic basics. That aside, despite its title, Doom Folk would benefit greatly from a little more of both.

Verdict: KKK
Words: Olly Thomas