Sweden’s become one of the major hubs for blues/stoner rock and doom over the past two decades or so, with quite a few bands from the country sounding like they could’ve come from the swampy regions of the United States. Void Commander is the perfect example of this on their latest album Alien Queen, as they have brought together a little bit of each of these styles. Each of their releases has emphasized a slightly different combination, as their debut Shrooming Widow leaned a bit more towards doom while their self-titled EP in 2018 pivoted completely over to blues/stoner rock. Alien Queen chooses to split its time between slower desert/stoner rock and doom jams along with shorter blues rock songs that feel like they’re transporting you back several decades, and it does so in a way that feels familiar without being derivative.
“To The Grave” kicks things off in a slower and methodical fashion, as Void Commander spends the first three minutes or so letting a crunchier, bottom heavy groove drive things forward. It’s somewhere between traditional doom and Kyuss type desert rock, but around the halfway mark the sound opens up significantly and the band pivots over to warm and sprawling melodies that have a psychedelic flair to them. The payoff is worth it, especially when you get those lusher textures by the end, but the repetitive nature early on made for a mixed first impression. That all changed when I got to “Sweet Depression” though, as the sound suddenly changes to a bluesy groove and the harmonica becomes a dominant part of the material. It’s a shift from Black Sabbath and Kyuss over to something closer to Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Void Commander pulls it off in a way that instantly has you hitting the repeat button while you tap your feet along to the rhythm. From there the band continues to transition back and forth between crunchier stoner rock, lumbering doom, and warm blues rock. The way that these elements intertwine helps to keep things fresh despite the sense of nostalgia Alien Queen invokes, and I love the short bursts that songs like “Dyke Blues” offer as they lumber forward like doom but also have the gnarlier leads of classic hard rock. “Bloodred Knight Alright” follows suit, coming off closer to Black Sabbath and Electric Wizard early on but offering a looser almost jam band cadence at the end. There’s a lot to like about this particular concoction of styles Void Commander has settled on, and when these riffs sink in they stick with you. Admittedly the one area that holds this one back slightly are the track lengths, as when things stretch into the seven- and eight-minute marks they start to drag and my attention does wander a bit.
The vocals have a much rawer feel early on, as after the initial instrumental groove is established on “To The Grave” you’re met with rougher singing that gives off a whisky soaked and smoke filled room kind of vibe. Given that the band is going for more of a doom and stoner rock tone at this point that’s definitely appropriate, but as the sound pushes outwards towards hazier melodies the vocals follow suit and head into much softer territory. The performance at this point is a little shaky but still fits the sound, but thankfully it isn’t the predominant pitch for most of Alien Queen. “Sweet Depression” and “Dyke Blues” keep things on the cleaner side but it’s delivered in a bluesier fashion and there’s a bit more confidence and swagger that makes things stand out more. From this point forward you get a mixture of the gruffer, rawer singing and the looser rock ‘n roll pitch and things remain consistently strong until the album comes to an end. I appreciate the variety Void Commander is able to deliver even if there are a few rough spots, as it’s more interesting overall than some of the one-note performances that are common in these genres.
Alien Queen drags slightly on some of its longer tracks and there are a few rough spots to the vocal performance. But even with these flaws I’ve found myself drawn back to what Void Commander is doing here, as they’ve fused multiple decades worth of hard rock and metal styles together in a way that doesn’t quite sound the same as your average blues or stoner rock act. There’s still room for this group to continue tweaking their ideas, but three albums in they’ve started to tap into something that should set them apart. Alien Queen is available from Majestic Mountain Records and Interstellar Smoke Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg