Bakelit - 2025 - No Fear of Drowning

(39:13; Fosfor Creation)

Swedish band Bakelit are back with their second album, only a year after their debut, and given how much I enjoyed that one I was definitely looking forward to this one as well. Led by multi-instrumentalist Carl Westholm, who here provides vocals, bass, electric piano, organ, synthesizers and Theremin, I  always think of him for his albums with Carptree and Jupiter Society, although others will probably think of Avatarium and Candlemass – not many prog musicians can also claim fame within doom! He is again joined by  singers Öivin Tronstad and Cia Backman and guitarist Ulf Edelönn but there is a new drummer in the form of Jonas Källsbäck, best known from The Night Flight Orchestra and Gathering of Kings.

There is a real darkness behind this, with Carl often happily playing dramatic deep and threatening chords as opposed to lightness and light. For the debut I said there were times when I was reminded of Clive Nolan, and that definitely comes through here again, especially when we get the multi-layered vocals “We Still Hate You” which could have come to us straight from ‘Alchemy’. This is progressive rock, which is bringing in art rock, doom, electronic, darkwave, Teutonic vibes and the theatrical to create something which is passionate, atmospheric, yet always with a hint of menace, which at times becomes quite overt.  The use of multiple singers allows for different colours against the black, and while I can see why the team on PA have classified what they are doing as Neo that is probably because they are not sure where else to put it. This is crossover in the sense in that it is refusing to be pigeonholed and instead is bringing in whatever styles they believe is fitting for the path they are following, and the result is something which is somehow quite commercial yet also very different to the mainstream.

This album contains only six songs, and is just slightly under 40 minutes in length, or the length of all the classic albums I grew up with which used to be limited to the amount of time one could get on two sides of vinyl, and is all the better for that as it comes in, throws all the body shots, and then is gone again before there is the opportunity to relax. This is a very strong follow-up indeed and I look forward to what comes next. 

Kev Rowland, November 2025

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/bakelitband