By: John Reppion
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 02/05/2018
Label: Ritual Productions
This is IMAX for the ears - rolling sound-waves
as far as the third-eye can see - never boring, never repetitive, an ever
evolving journey through a riffed rift in time and space
“"Thought and Existence" CD//DD//LP track listing:
1).
The Golden Fields
2).
"Tlön Uqbar Orbis Tertius"
The Review:
"Thought
and Existence" is
something like the forty-fourth release from Newcastle's Bong and is officially their eighth
full length studio record, which isn't bad going for a band that's been around
for thirteen years. Trippy, heavy, hypnotic, psychedelic, euphoric, spacey,
massive, awe inspiring, mythic... all good words which could be, and have been,
used to describe Bong’s previous output (most recently 2015's epic "We
Are, We Were, and We Will Have Been"), and all of which work equally
well for this latest offering. I will probably use most of them again below.
"Thought and Existence" is thirty-six and a half minutes long and consists of two tracks:
"The Golden Fields"
opens with spacey gong-bath ambience and one of vocalist/bassist Dave Terry's
spoken, sermon-like, poetic intros. Mike Vest's guitar drones swell, and swell,
and swell and then Mike Smith's massive drums kick in. This is IMAX for the ears
- rolling sound-waves as far as the third-eye can see - never boring, never
repetitive, an ever evolving journey through a riffed rift in time and
space. Smith's
drums on "Tlön Uqbar Orbis
Tertius" let us know that this is more of an overtly psych chapter; a
second, more mesmerised, movement. Changes are subtle and unhurried, yet deeply
effecting. Looping layers of drone which gradually grow in size and potency
until your brain and body are vibrating at exactly the same fizzy-boned
frequency.
Bong are a band who can make a cover of Pink Floyd's "Set the
Controls for the Heart of the Sun" last half an hour and still be
something that is an absolute pleasure to hear.
"Thought and Existence" is a journey through sound, a genuine trip into and through the other-world the band conjures so expertly and effortlessly. Caution: Do Not Operate Heavy Machinery While Listening to Bong. Listening to "Thought and Existence" May Cause Out of Body Experience. Keep Out of Reach of Children.
