Bong Bong

Bong 'Bong' (Heidenwut Productions, 2009)

Slow, ritualistic chants effortlessly entrance as sonorous bass, droning guitar and mystic sitar dance to the avalanche of slow motion cymbals and snare rolls. 'Wizards of Krull' follows this enlightening path for 16 and a half minutes then 'The Starlit Grotto' odes exactly the same for almost exactly the same amount of time.

The first time I saw Bong was on Halloween 2009 in a cellar in Glasgow where Fray, Danny, Mike and I were met with a 'performance' by Guanoman. We were all in various states of intoxication, Richard had decided he couldn't handle the 'vibe' even before we entered the gig, and I think Fray's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets when faced with the hilarious yet strangely threatening bemasked lunatic.

Bong were incredible that night crushing us with softly with their eastern flavoured hymns. I thought Danny and Fray might have had a 'Passage to India' moment when the relentless echoing 'Boum' crushed their belief in humanity, but we all escaped unscathed.

I have seen them a few times since and they have never impressed me as much again, mainly because they have been too quiet and their hypnotic riff on the Yob/Om paradigm needs to be felt low and hard in the belly and ribs.

As a result Bong are one of the few bands I currently like who sound better on record than they do live. Amazingly Lu is quite a fan of Bong and we have spent many an evening playing Wii Tennis with the Geordie mystics droning in the background.

'There is a place far to the North, where the souls of the dead know the unfathomable abysses, let us tell you of this place, let us tell you of The Starlit Grotto', oh alright then.

Peace

PS - I bought this record, from the band, at a gig, not through a distro. I only found out what record label this release was on when I searched on the internet as there is no mention of a label anywhere on the packaging. Heidenwut Productions have since released some extremely unsavoury right wing material. I have searched interviews with Bong and can find no mention of this fact, but I do not believe that Bong share any of the political beliefs their label mates have. I will ask the question next time I encounter them.