Doom-Drone Duo UNGRAVEN Summon Conan Levels of Dread For New LP
~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~
By Billy Goate
Drone is a medium of heavy music that took me a long while to get into. Seeing Sunn O))) perform at Psycho Las Vegas gave me with a migraine headache (admittedly I was a tad dehydrated from the Nevada sun), but I left in deep appreciation for the craft. Years later, I would finally be won over by the UK's Orme and their incredible self-titled debut, which brought me to chills. I realized then the unlimited potential for immense and emotionally moving soundscapes the genre holds in store.
Now comes the combined talents of the legendary Jon Davis (Conan) and David Perry (The Laze, ex-Conan & Dead Void) into the UK doom-drone project UNGRAVEN. While new to many, they pair has been active since 2018, already dropping a split with Slomatics in addition to a live album and two demos. Now comes their Heavy Psych Sounds label debut and the razing 43 minute tour de force 'Hollows Made Homes In Their Sunken Cheeks' (2025).
Two tracks, approximately 20 minutes a piece, comprise the pillars of the new album. The first track "Nothing Is Less Than Zero" (excerpted by The Obelisk one month ago) is majestic and transcendent, with ego-destroying mass and maddening weight. The screeching, growling low-end of Jon Davis' guitar scratches an itch in my brain in a way that's hard to describe but impossible to deny. When the organ joins (and it is a true to life full-scale pipe organ, folks) it is truly wondrous and terrifying. I'm beyond awe-struck by this collaboration.
The second track, "Hollows Made Home," can be unsettling and disorienting, making me think of being lost in the woods with no definite sense of direction, no landmarks to speak of, and surrounded by an overwhelming sense of the coldness and ferocity of nature -- removed entirely from human creature comforts and the salvation of technological connectivity. 11 minutes into the lumbering track the resounding low-end of the synth combines with the rumbling vibration of downtuned strings to create a blackout of consciousness, as one is suddenly overwhelmed in an incredible burden of awareness.
Wordless and atmospheric, the experience becomes all the more powerful when you let the speakers shake your walls. Here is a taste of the album's second track, "Hollows Made Home." Get lost in the full release of Ungraven's powerhouse record on April 18th (pre-order here).
Give ear...
SOME BUZZ
Ungraven has reincarnated with a new form. Founder, Jon Davis remains with his infamous slabs of guitar terror and is joined by David Perry on synths, organ and piano. The direction has shifted towards a more haunting ambient approach to sonic devastation. Fall untethered into a bleak and expansive soundscape of psychedelic terror, experience a new chapter in Ungraven's tome of tone.
Hollows Made Homes In Their Sunken Cheeks came into existence as a result of Jon’s wishes to take the Ungraven sound somewhere other than a standard ‘rock band’ setup. Moving away from the traditional ‘drums / bass / guitar’ structure has allowed Ungraven to experiment further with both sound and composition. ‘Hollows….’ Is an experiment in sonics and allows both Davis and Perry to perform a sickening sonic duet as their respective instruments carve a universe shaped hole in your consciousness.
Inspired by the duo's past collaborations on Conan tracks such as "Older than Earth" and "Grief Sequence" as well as artists such as Tangerine Dream, Circle, Zombi and Harold Budd. Hollows is a combination of composed and improvised elements, constructed remotely from their bases in England and Denmark. The addition of Perry’s synth, organ and piano to Davis’s slab-like 6 string delivery has produced two epics that are both introspective and pummelling at the same time.
On “Hollows Made Homes In Their Sunken Cheeks”, the duo launches a glacial barrage of heaviness using synths, keys, organ, vocoder and guitar, conjuring images of social decline projected across imagined landscapes of a ruined future.
Its dark and cinematic atmosphere speaks volumes as layers of sound gradually build the tension, diving deeper and heavier into synthesizer realms where restrained forces lurk beneath the surface. Like threatening vessels silently hovering overhead, it teeters on the brink of psychedelic spheres, a haunting progression culminating into nothing but nothingness.
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