Gavran – The One Who Propels
Release Date: 30th January 2026
Label: Dunk! Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Doom, Post-Doom, Post-Metal.
FFO: 40 Watt Sun, Messa, Bell Witch, Khemmis, Amenra .
Review By: Pete Wall
Gavran’s latest full-length The One Who Propels arrives out of a period marked by rupture and reconfiguration, and it carries the weight of that journey in every movement. Now operating as a four-piece with a reshaped line-up and an expanded guitar presence, the Rotterdam-based post-doom collective sound both recentred and emboldened. Working once again with trusted collaborators Marius Prins (Throwing Bricks) and Tim de Gieter (Doodseskader), they push further into a sound that feels vast without ever losing its sense of closeness. This is deliberately-paced, emotionally and sonically heavy music that bristles with intent and conviction. The record feels less like a statement of return and more like a reckoning with what it takes to stand tall without being crushed down through the earth by the weight of existence.
Musically, The One Who Propels balances assaultive density and delicate clarity with an ever-present control over delivery. Elements drawn from doom, sludge, shoegaze, and post-rock are blended together into long-form compositions that fully justify every minute of the runtime. All but one of the tracks stretch beyond the ten-minute mark, but the time is used purposefully, allowing ideas to develop gradually and cohere to devastating effect. Dynamic range that is beautifully articulated in the production and mixing is a major strength here: towering crescendos emerge from patient progressions, earning their emotional impact, and the shifts between restraint and release are consistently affecting. This is the kind of record that will work its way deep into your consciousness and connect indelibly for those who have stared, even fleetingly, into the void.
The vocal approach is also central to the album’s power. Harsh, excoriating screams, clean melodies, and low, grounded vocal lines are deployed with real sensitivity and craft, each serving a distinct emotional function rather than existing for contrast alone. Further to this point, the lyrics on The One Who Propels are resolutely grounded in self-examination and the overarching theme of the record, namely that within all the desolation that surrounds, there is power in resilience. The writing dwells on the simple, often brutal act of continuing—of moving forward despite pain, exhaustion, and uncertainty. On penultimate track Pogon vocalist Jamie Kobić captures this sense of fortitude under fire while leaving The ‘one’ of the album’s title open to interpretation,
A sense of being drowned
In a thousand rivers
Nothing to hold on to
No one can propel
A sense of repose
Revolve in transformation
The one who persists
The one who propels
Taken as a whole, The One Who Propels is Gavran at their most human and most compelling. The album doesn’t posture or seek grandeur for its own sake; its intensity comes from attention, patience, and undeniable emotional truth. By embracing vulnerability and refusing easy resolutions, the band have created a record that resonates on a deeply personal level while remaining open and accessible to those willing to sit with it, discomfort and all.
The record reminds us that the light at the end of the tunnel is there if we can persist but Gavran know full well that it can be extremely difficult to keep that light in our sights. In all its dark elegance, The One Who Propels is a salve for the soul.
(5 / 5)
