Bong — We are, we were and we will have been

Here we have the latest slice of hash-hazed doom/heavy psychedelic rock jamming from this British four piece project. The release offers up two lengthy sonic trips into stoned-out & mystically ribbed jam craft. And I must say this is very much of a return to form after the band’s disappointing last full length release, which came in the form of 2014’s rather bland & uneventful Stoner Rock album.

The two tracks each hit around the seventeen to eighteen minute mark, and the first of these is “Time Regained”. This  first track opens up in great & dramatic retro doom jam fashion, bringing together a fixed & stretched out simply yet effective doom feed back churn- this is underfed by this simmering 70’s synth pattern, which adds an epic harmonic edge to the proceedings. As the track moves into the two minute mark we get nice shimmering crash of cymbals, with a even & slow drum pattern coming in at third minute. As the drums come in the feedback becomes more of low, hazed & blunt doom riff churn, with the simmering yet smoke hazed synth pattern  glinting dully ever so often under the hash smoked haze of the churning ‘n’ fixed riff.  At the 7th minute a very dramatic & theatrical bellowed male semi singing/ semi spoken word element is added over the top, and this adds a nice feel of epic timeless-ness to the building weight of the song. Around this is added edges of  basic ‘n’ rough blues tinged guitar work.  By the 10th minute the vocals slip away, and the band set down into a nice, simple yet effective spacey doom jam-out. In the tracks last five or so minutes the drums drop out, and we just left with reducing simmers of cymbal abrasion, synth weaves, and doom riff feedback.

Second up we have the track “Find Your Own Gods”, and this starts up with dramatic male spoken word passage, which talks about finding your own gods in nature.  With-in a minute or so a bare & spiralling wow-wow tinged guitar riff appears and circles in the air like a mass of narcotic smoke. At around the two minute mark a slow & lumbering 70’s organ/ synth element melody appears( this sounds very much like it could have appeared on Tangerine Dreams Atem). As we progress to the 5th minute a slowly tolling & basic rhythmic pattern appears, as the wow-wow guitar & organ/ synth elements seem to haze & spiral together in stoned wonderful-ness. From here on in we sail out into the simply yet effective jam territory, with towards the end some quite searing( yet still mellow) blues tinged gitar soloing.

It’s always great to find faith again in a band that you’d felt had lost it’s way & that’s exactly what We are, we were and we will have been has done for me. All in all a great return to form, and if you dig spaced-out  & lumbering psychedelic doom rock jamming this is a must!