Bong – Beyond Ancient Space

The opening of none-doomier Bong’s latest is truly breathtaking, an omnipresent drone from the bowels of the earth that grows and swells over an aeon while the sounds of hashish-shrouded souks and the low chants of Dagon-worshipping cults sway in the foreground. This could well be the soundtrack to the greatest H.P. Lovecraft adaptation never made, such is the aura of eldritch foreboding hanging over it.

Across the Timestream relies on sheer gravitational force to crush the listener under its weight, the almighty power of the ssllloooowww harnessed to its greatest effect yet as Mike Smith’s drumming crashes down upon the skull like a rockfall, while In the Shadow of the Towers shows an accomplished mastery of the band’s drone roots. These three tracks each have the power to completely mesmerise, but when taken together they’ll top any drug you can think of for inducing hypnotic, blissful narcosis.