BongBongBeerWizards - Albong (2020)
Following up on a rehearsal track from
2017 and their debut EP from the start of last year,
BongBongBeerWizards (you're already down just from the name, right?)
are a German trio with plenty of fuzz to live up to their chosen
moniker. With the time off to craft this return release, there's
more thoughtfulness to the music's arrangements than the name might
suggest, and they carry themselves well, pulling off a tough balance
of garage-like cragginess and expansively spacy polish.
Leading off with “Melothrone”
(which I'm guessing is an allusion to the classic Mellotron), the new
EP gets off to an enjoyably grimy start. Riding deep feedback
rumbles and pacing itself with the drummer's wary-sounding beats, the
tune grinds through the grooves with a serrated sort of vibe,
building momentum until the vocals arrive in an effects-laden
entrance. Providing warping tension, mixed somewhat low against the
rough riffage of the guitar and the rising punch of the drums, the
wordless (or so I'd guess) singing lends things a spike of
psychedelic vibrance to lift the heavy doom patterns. Running just
over nine minutes, it's a clear guide to their style and character
for those who might have missed the earlier efforts. They even pack
in a break and bridge before the last couple of minutes, with an
hooky rolling riff against cymbal clangs providing a bit of
good-natured spookiness before the fuzz comes in like a tall tide.
“Journey” follows from there,
easily the shortest track of the EP at just under three minutes, and
it turns the atmospheric inclinations shown earlier into a short but
haunting bit of tone exploration. It's a nice (and high-contrast)
break with the weightiness of the opening track, and concisely
demonstrates the band's facility with sparser song-writing, while
keeping it both bare and forthright enough to bust any beliefs that
they're getting by on the FX. The clean vocals, slight string echo,
and restrained percussion all come together wonderfully, lulling the
listener into a chill before the next song strikes.
“Meathead” rides an opening touch
of drone into more somber territory, with the vocals shifting down to
an ominous and thoroughly distorted call-and-response dynamic between
the higher and lower singing. Riding the groove deeper and deeper,
augmenting it with additional layers of instrumentation (or just more
pedal activation, maybe), they pull some real Sleep vibes into
action, providing what will likely be the high point for many
listeners. Lastly, at more than ten minutes by itself, there's
“Summoning”. I have to acknowledge that the opening of this had
my cat spellbound. After its 'doom UFO' antics fade out, the
heavier, more serious side of BongBongBeerWizards returns, prowling
through a valley of semi-jammy but still powerful stoner doom flexes.
It deflates the tension built by the preceding tracks, to a degree,
but it also feels like a fitting finish, just kind of sprawling out
into the smoke. All in all, there's a lot to dig into with this EP,
so if stoner doom is one of your preferred styles, be sure to get a
copy once it drops.
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Atomic Trip,
Electric Wizard, Hypnochron, Ladybird, Sleep
~
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