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Bongzilla

Stash & Methods For Attaining Extreme Altitudes

Written by: PP on 31/01/2008 01:49:20

Sometimes I really wonder under which rock Relapse Records finds some of their bands. I remember mentioning this in another review about a year ago, but for every great band the label has on their roster, they have another 10 that are either just plain average, or like Bongzilla, so freaking terrible that I don\'t know whether to laugh or cry. I mean who in their right senses writes four albums and two EP\'s worth of stoner/sludge metal where the sole lyrical topic is marijuana and it\'s legalization in the US. Just listen to some of these song titles: \"Sacret Smoke\"? \"Harvest\"? \"High Like A Dog\"? \"Smoke / I love Maryjane\"? Jesus Christ. On a more serious note, this record is meant to be a re-release package of two \"seminal\" (at least if you are to believe the promo sheet) releases from the band: their second EP \"Methods For Attaining Extreme Altitudes\" and their debut full length album \"Stash\" (...).

The sound of the album is as fuzzy and distracted as I would imagine it was ten years ago, when these records were originally released. Think of the resulting sound from a combination of two bands like Rwake and Unearthly Trance, and you\'ve pretty much got how Bongzilla sounds like. Insert in loads of spoken-word passages, ridiculous interludes with the police knocking on the door, and stoned lyrics about, well, getting stoned and why marijuana should be legalized. While that\'s a discussion I don\'t really intend to take a side on in this review, I definitely think that the band could\'ve written about something else, at least on ONE FUCKING song on the album.

Even musically, these guys aren\'t anything particularly special, raising the \'was this really necessary\' question in my mind. Lets stop and think about that for a minute. Give a consideration to their name, Bongzilla, and the fact that I\'ll be willing to bet you X amount of drinks that you\'ll never have heard of them. Maybe I\'m missing the point but re-releasing the early releases of an obscure sludge metal band isn\'t exactly the correct way to deal with the shrinking financial base of the music industry. Because if you\'re really into the sickeningly slow, \'lets records this through a shoe\' mentality that the genre requires, you\'d be buying something by a band like Rwake instead anyway. Considering the fact that these songs were most likely all written under the influence of weed, the quality of material here is fucking weak if you compare to other artists who write whilst high.

Download: Prohibition (4th Amendment)
For the fans of: Electric Wizard, Weedeater, Acid King
Listen: Myspace
Buy: iTunes

Release date 22.10.2007
Relapse
Provided by Target ApS