BONG - Thought And Existence

Given the frequency of past records it has been quite a while since Bong's last studio album "We Are, We Were And We Will Have Been". But here they finally are again with two new tracks!

BONG - Thought And Existence (clear blue with glow in the dark splatter vinyl / metallic blue sleeve) (2018)

It's easy to write too much about Bong, because the british drone doomers achieve such a huge sound with seemingly so little effort. With the band being reduced to a classic guitar/bass/drums trio and going back to their heavier selves again, Bong's new release is yet another awe-inspiring testament of that.

The first half of "Thought And Existence", titled "The Golden Fields" basically is a meditation on one single riff and very sparse variations of it.
But add a booming narrator's voice, some well-placed shamanistic chants and epic lead guitars to it and perform it in an ever increasing, building fashion and it becomes a massive entity which encompasses your whole being, ultimately harmonizing your soul to vibrate in unison with the universe.

The slightly longer "Tlön Uqbar Orbis Tertius" (dafuq?) works after the same principle, yet since it features no vocals it allows itself sharper variations a much more action-packed drumming under the permanent guitar drone. 

Both tracks are black hole heavy, transcendently elevating masterpieces and thus - logically - is this album. I'm not saying there aren't other bands which occupy resembling spots here and there (Yob, Bell Witch or the darkest anomalies in the eternal void being reserved for Sunn O)))), but all in all Bong take you to places no other doom outfit does. It's a journey from the electric spark in your cortex to the edge of the redshift at the outer verges of the cosmos.

Good they included a map on the front cover!

The only things which aren't absolutely great about this release are a) the pressing quality of at least my copy (looks great, but there are brutal noises at the end of each track) and b) that there's no digital download included, which would have been especially welcome, because a).

But other than that this is dope. Don't ask where this stands in comparison to the rest of the band's discography. In the upper half, surely. But Bong can do no wrong anyway, right?

Highlight: The Golden Fields