Conan / Bongripper - Split 12"

(Holy Roar Records, 2013)

 

If you are reading this then we are fortunate that the recent Bongripper / Conan UK tour hasn’t levelled our fair isles to rubble. As the cover of this co-release indicates (and indeed as both bands’ reputation will have preceded them) Conan and Bongripper are true worshippers of insane degrees of amplification, ever on a path of discovery for perfect tone and crushing noise. Coming off the back of celebrated Roadburn Festival performances and well-respected albums (Bongripper’s Satan Worshipping Doom and Conan’s Monnos) the bands being brought together on vinyl is every monolithic doom fan’s wet dream, and the fact that they decided to tour together to bring the music directly to your beating chest may well be the climax.

 

Anyone who is familiar with either band’s back catalogue ought to know what to expect, and certainly they will not be disappointed with this split. Both bands play the kind of incredibly loud, down-tuned and soul-destroying doom that makes your sphincter wobble and your heart pound twice as hard in your chest. On the one hand, both band’s appeal lies in primal, old fashioned riffs. But both bands are also masters of a sound that they have created, one that is dense, menacing and cinematic.

 

Starting with the hypnotic tribal drumming of Conan‘s Paul O’Neil and the growing drone of Matamp-approved feedback, the lowstrung grumble of the guitars gives way to the dual roar of Jon Davis and Phil Coumbe. “Beheaded” harks back to Horseback Battle Hammer-era Conan when the songs were given more time to plough through their surroundings, the notes more sparse and sparing than almost anything on Monnos but certainly no less punishing or menacing. As always, Conan manage to paint a mental image of destruction, war-torn battlefields and barbarians tearing through villages and revelling in the fire and brimstone of it all. For seventeen minutes, “Beheaded” rolls on – no break in the action, no looking back at the devastation left in its wake. This is doom that creates a heavy atmosphere and hits you at that gut level with no need for frills or tricks – the reward is in the weight of the sound.

 

Bongripper contribute a far more tumultuous offering in ‘Zero Talent’, a track that could have easily sat on Satan Worshipping Doom in terms of sound and the combination of styles that inform the band’s exploratory, progressive take on doom. Stoner riffs slide into depressive passages of monotone doom before blast beats pull you out of your stupor. While Bongripper don’t quite create the same level of all-consuming atmosphere, given the time constraints, ‘Zero Talent’ is nonetheless a mighty sampling of one of the heaviest bands currently making music and a near-perfect introduction to those who may not know the band’s sound. If Conan evoke a horde of barbarians wantonly pillaging, Bongripper are like the blackened visage of Death, grinning slyly from beneath his cloak at the squalor.

 

It’s not often that two bands who have mastered a unique sound of their own come together for a release like this which is what makes it such an absolute treat; one side of monotone, primal caveman doom and another of pitch-black stoner doom. While we wait for new albums from both bands, this is the perfect stop-gap, whetting our appetites for more aural destruction to come. As ever, the real heroes here are the amplifiers who have been given pride of place on the cover, acting as the “fifth member” throughout this mighty impressive release. Here’s an experiment: put this on your turntable and see if it can handle the weight.

[Originally published by the Sleeping Shaman, 02/05/2013]
http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/c/conan-bongripper-split-12inch-dd-2013/

CONAN - MONNOS

(Burning World Records, 2012)

Conan seem to be the band on everyone’s lips at the moment; signed to Burning World Records, an enviable slot at Roadburn Festival on the horizon and being flown to Oslo to support the one and only Sleep – it’s not hard to see why based on appearances alone. Add to that the praise that the band’s earth shattering live performances and debut album Horseback Battle Hammer have garnered them and Conan look to be the breakout band of 2012.

And on that (brown) note, Monnos is exactly the kind of album you’re going to want to make to match the expectations of the fans and sceptics based on all of the above. From the first oppressive, brow-beating chug of monolithic opener “Hawk As Weapon” to the final wall of feedback on“Invincible Throne,” Monnos is amazingly accomplished, singular in its apocalyptic vision and densely layered. And by dense I don’t just mean the dropped-F tuning that the guys reportedly use. Not only are the songs heavy (and I’m talking heavy), they’re also strangely otherworldly. When Jon Davis’ lets out his signature siren-call it sounds like a message that has filtered through time, telling us of some long-forgotten massacre from the Dark Ages and the music acts as a grim backdrop to it all. As pompous as that sounds, these aren’t your everyday doom songs – this is a timeless doom record and it’s heavier than just about anything you’ve ever heard.

Opening track and live favourite “Hawk As Weapon” gets the ball rolling in a suitably monumental fashion, summing up everything that is great about the band in a concise and cataclysmic 6 minute blast of heavy riffing and booming vocals. “Battle In The Swamp” builds on this formula by combining a surprisingly emotive chord progression and vocal delivery to create a tragic mood. In contrast “Grim Tormentor” is menacingly triumphant-sounding (and the song most likely to rouse a Conan audience into actually moving) with its all-conquering, almighty groove.

At the midway point the guys take everything down a notch for the subdued instrumental “Golden Axe”, a contemplative and atmospheric moment of peace in the eye of the storm. After this interlude “Headless Hunter” sounds like the unstoppable approach of some malevolent force. Indeed, the last two minutes of the song defy clever analysis or big words; they’re simply badarse with a riff that’ll make you want to stomp around your house knocking things off tables, imagining they’re foes to be vanquished. Finally, devastating album closer “Invincible Throne” is like the pitch-black veil of evil sweeping across a war-torn battlefield – axes, shields and corpses scattered carelessly in the wild abandon of defeat.

This is an hypnotic album that really needs to be heard as a whole. I first listened to it whilst driving down the motorway in the pouring rain on a dark grey, apocalyptic day and it was the perfect soundtrack. In fact, me and my partner were half way through the album before we realised that we’d been sat there in silence and we turned to look at each other, mouths agape. There’s something about the combination of Davis’ and bassist Phil Coumbe’s vocals atop such an unstoppable wave of uncompromising doom riffs that is entrancing. While Davis chimes out in the distance, Coumbe’s deep, booming growl anchors him to the thick layer of bass-heavy fuzz underlying everything. Paul O’Neil is a wonderfully complex drummer too – he fills the long spaces between notes with interesting cymbal flourishes and accents, all without being too busy or overly complicated for the sake of it. He gives the album its characteristic driving force.

If you’ve failed to appreciate Conan up to this point then now is the time to check them out and to give these guys the respect they deserve. Monnos more than lives up to the promise of its predecessor; it’s a giant, lumbering beast of an album, the perfect weapon to make heads roll and to take the band to the next stratum in the underground hierarchy. It’s an album that will hit you at that primal level before thought or reason comes into the equation – real caveman doom! If Monnos proves anything it’s that there’s heavy and then there’s Conan.

[Originally published by the Sleeping Shaman, 13/3/2012]
http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/c/conan-monnos-cd-lp-dd-2012/