Bandcamp The Mica chronicle continues. Astral Voyager Vol. 1, released in May 2025, set up the narrative scaffolding: a bounty hunter named Mica navigating time and space, evading unseen controlling forces, the kind of science-fiction concept that stoner-doom records have been using as scaffolding since Sleep first looked toward Jerusalem. Vol. 2 arrives ten months later as the European edition through Majestic Mountain Records, six new tracks averaging seven minutes apiece, and the question Kal-El’s sixth full-length has to answer is whether the second installment of a concept saga has anything to say that the first did not.
The answer, mostly, is yes. Vol. 1 was the kind of acclaimed-but-not-quite-essential stoner-doom record that confirmed Kal-El’s standing in the Norwegian heavy-rock underground without quite pushing them past it. Vol. 2 settles into the compositional approach the first record sketched and lets the songs run longer, breathe wider, and trust the listener to follow the narrative through atmospheric build rather than constant momentum. “The Nine” stretches past ten minutes and uses most of them on a slow-build mid-section that earns its length. “Asteroid” closes the record at almost eight minutes with a sustained climax that prioritizes density over surprise. “Pan” and “Juggernaut” sit in the middle as the album’s structural anchors.
The Stavanger five-piece have always lived in the gap between traditional stoner rock (Fu Manchu energy, fuzz-driven riffs, classic-rock structures) and heavy psych or proper doom (drone passages, extended builds, weight as its own goal). Astral Voyager Vol. 2 leans further toward the doom side than Vol. 1 did. The riffs run slower, the vocals push into a doomier register, the production lets the low-end carry weight rather than punch. Bridge Burner Recording handles the engineering, Ruben Willem mixes and masters, and the result sits at modern stoner-doom loudness with enough dynamic restraint to let the slower passages register as the actual climaxes.
What the Majestic Mountain Records pressing tells you about the audience is roughly correct. This is a stoner-doom record for people who already own Holy Mountain and have an opinion about which Kyuss album is the best. The science-fiction concept is window dressing on a sound that does not need a concept to work. The five-piece dynamic (twin guitars, present bass, drums that prioritize feel over precision) has been the band’s signature since their early records and Vol. 2 does not change the formula so much as deepen it.
Listeners who came to Kal-El through the desert-rock or fuzz-doom lineages will hear the band’s continuity clearly. Listeners who wanted Vol. 2 to surprise them after Vol. 1’s strong reception will find the record more confident than surprising. Whether that is the band landing in their voice or whether Vol. 3 (presumably in the works) needs to push further depends on how patient the audience is for a longer-form saga from a band that has been at this for fourteen years.
The mix sits at modern stoner-doom loudness with dual guitars saturating the stereo field, bass providing low-end weight that occasionally fuses with the kick rather than carving its own line, and drums recorded with proper room ambience and a kick that punches without modern clicky compression. Vocals sit on top of the instrumentation in clean stoner-doom mode, intelligible across the six tracks. Mastering loudness is consistent and contemporary, with enough dynamic restraint to let the slower passages register as climaxes rather than as build-up. The production reads as the band working comfortably in their established sound rather than reaching for a new approach; the wider dynamic range on the longer tracks (“The Nine,” “Asteroid”) is the album’s most production-relevant gesture.
Standout tracks: “The Nine” for the ten-minute centerpiece that uses its length on a properly developed slow build. “Asteroid” for the eight-minute closer that earns its sustained final climax. “Pan” for the structural anchor in the middle of the record.
Astral Voyager Vol. 2 is the kind of second installment that rewards the audience the first record built. Forty-three minutes, six tracks, no surprises but no missteps either. Worth your time if you came to Kal-El through Holy Mountain and want the band to keep developing the saga at their own pace. Listeners looking for the band to break new sonic ground will find the record more confirmation than departure.
