Bongripper / Conan - Split 12"

The recent (edit: a year and a half ago! Fuuuuuck) Bongripper and Conan UK tour lived up to all my expectations in total sonic annihilation, and this tie-in Split 12" is a great little reminder of the cacophony the duo made together. On the 12" we get more of the same from Bongripper, which isn't a bad thing I assure you. I simply cannot think of anything more to say other than it really is awesome as hell, if only a little short for my liking, even when spinning at 33rpm. Bongripper are slowly growing to become one of my favourite doom metal bands of all time, and they are showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Conan on the other hand throw a little variation into their usual sound here. It is still downtuned and massive; horrendous room shaking bass tones are laced with echoic yelps like every other Conan release, but there seems to be a grandiose, building feeling beneath the usual textures, as if Conan have all of a sudden become epic as fuck. It is like giant-monolithic-power-doom-drone-metal. Yes, that'll do. Ha ha. Out on Holy Roar Records.

Zonderhoof - Hakken!

Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself of the growing pool of talent in my local area. Zonderhoof were another local band that I’d somehow spent my entire life avoiding; that was until Terrorizer magazine gave their album away for free with an issue of their magazine, and at their stall in Damnation Festival 2011 (which is where I kindly received my copy). Even then, I only gave it a quick listen, and I wasn’t turned on to the band again until they supported Conan in a Cardiff show last year.

My first - and somewhat harsh - thought about this album is that Zonderhoof sound like a poor man’s Bongripper. Y’know one of those silly half-opinions you form after listening to something for the first time, like no matter how much you convince yourself otherwise, you really still haven’t got your head around it? Well, it was one of those. See, that’s why I can never understand “professional” reviews where a writer is given an album to write about*; I’ve found that you always need to let a record unfold for you over time. First impressions are just that; first impressions.

And with time I have come to appreciate Zonderhoof as an instrumental wonder of the metal world, playing a nice, almost progressive brand of lyric-free metal goodness. This CD is a long ‘un, which is really great considering it was given away for free (just think of the recording and production costs; sheesh!). My favourite tracks are probably opener “Smoking Ears Screaming Teeth” and the groovy “Hogslayer”, although the last couple of tracks are awesome as well. Well worth a listen, in my somewhat skewed opinion.

*a brilliant, recurring example of this is the writers that Kerrang! employ(ed). When a big band dropped a new album they’d always give it either an arse-kissing five Ks or a controversial licking, and within months go back on their own fucking word almost every single time, like clockwork. Mind you, Kerrang! is a heap of shit and probably a bad example, but there you go.  

Burzum - Dauði Baldrs

I know this doesn't exactly rank high amongst the playlists of many black metal enthusiasts, but I am a huge fan of the prison-Burzum era. I think we need to reflect on what the man was simply left to work with; any country that allows you make an album whilst serving prison time for murder is pretty unusual in my opinion, and to be fair, considering Varg was supposedly only allowed to use a synthesizer, he did a pretty good job. Sure, it sounds cheap, but so does any synth music made in that era - just check out early Mortiis, that sounds similar and that dude wasn't chained up in the clink when he was writing his shit.

I think that the cheap, tacky feel of the keyboard sounds really contribute to the full atmosphere of the record. Sure, these tracks would sound absolutely stunning performed by a full orchestra or even a small group, but the tacky electronic instrumentation really gives this record it's charm. I was chuffed to bits then, when Back on Black re-issued not only the guaranteed-to-sell Burzum records, but the whole shebang, allowing me, the crappy keyboard music enthusiast, to get a lush new copy of this record on wax. I am not usually that keen on re-issues but Back on Black has made the whole Burzum catalog (not to mention a lot of "classic" black metal) much more affordable for vinyl fans. The fact that this label seems to get through so many releases can only be a good thing for the vinyl world, right?

Bongripper - Satan Worshipping Doom

What I've got here in today's post is Bongripper's 3rd pressing of Satan Worshipping Doom, which I wisely picked up at Roadburn in April. The band release all their records themselves, and it is now worth a small fortune on Discogs. Also, this is going to sound rather bizarre, but I see this as less of a record and more as a reminder, or a testament, to the band's fucking mindblowing set at Roadburn festival 2012. I gotta say, I was a bad place during last year's Roadburn, I almost felt detatched from the world for various different reasons, but several forms of drugs and mind / mood altering music helped me through the cold nights! Ha ha

 

Bongripper played two sets that festival, and one of them was this four track monster in it's entirety. It was a very draining experience, and I actually do not know how I managed to stand through the whole thing without collapsing and foaming at the mouth in a doom-metal induced spasm of orgasm, but that's what weed is for, right? Since that day I have never been able to listen to this album again without longing for the sheer impact that it pushed upon me live; it will forever serve as a second hand memory. It is still as awesome as several hundred shades of fuck, but it will never, ever, EVER reach the feeling that it had live.

 

You can take that in two ways. Some might say that this record is now tainted. I beg to differ. How good must Bongripper be to transcend that level of awesomeness when you play your entire record from start to finish live it actually turns out BETTER than the version you spent long days in the studio perfecting? That sirs, is art. And whilst I agree with people like M. Gira (to name a few, I just picked him because I am a gigantic fanboy) on the matter that songs should naturally take different forms in live environments, I can't help but almost shed a tear thinking about standing in the 013 main room at Roadburn every time I look at the cover art to this record. Now, if that makes it tainted, I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

 

After 2 minutes; that riff! Jesus! If that doesn't blow your head off, get off this website! ;)