Style: Industrial Metal, Breakcore, Black Metal, Doom Metal (mostly harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Bongripper, Om, Author & Punisher, Igorrr
Country: Netherlands
Release date: 21 February 2025
I’ve only been writing for The Progressive Subway for about two months now, but I fear it has already irreparably altered my taste in music in some ways. For example, when an artist describes their own work as “dissonant”, I have PTSD flashbacks to a few weeks ago, when Andy asked me to check out Gorguts‘ Obscura for the first time. Bong-Ra‘s latest LP, Black Noise, is downright pleasant in comparison.
Bong-Ra is one of many projects from the mind of Jason Köhnen (Celestial Season, The Answer Lies in the Black Void, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, etc.). If you’re interested in exploring the territory where metal and electronic music overlap, a stroll through Bong-Ra‘s back catalog is an excellent introduction. Black Noise is not the first metal-electronic fusion album from Bong-Ra, but it is the best example of where that balance is shifted in favour of fans of black or industrial metal, as opposed to breakcore and raggacore (Warrior Sound, Monolith) or drone metal (Antediluvian, Meditations).
Black Noise is largely a work of industrial metal with a tasteful infusion of electronic instrumentation. On the opening track “Dystopic”, trudging guitars occasionally glitch, and you’re reminded every so often that the drums are programmed as the track flows into and out of breakcore sections. At times, Köhnen hearkens back to his earlier, more atmospheric oeuvre, like on “Bloodclot”, a sparse track with a throbbing bassline reminiscent of a pulse. “Parasites”, another memorable work, is notable primarily for its prominent sampling of wet, writhing, wriggling creatures; partway through “Parasites”, those squidgy, slimy samples are timed to align with the bass drum, making it sound like a band trying to play their way out of a pit full of worms and leeches.
But Black Noise is not a particularly memorable album on the whole. When I introduce someone to a new band, I can tell they’re not really open to giving it a chance when the main criticism they have is “all of the songs sound the same”. I think that’s usually a cop-out, and what they really mean is “I listened to the album and didn’t pay attention because I didn’t care all that much, so I don’t remember the differences between the tracks”. But friends, I have listened to Black Noise upward of a dozen times now and I can tell you with certainty: most of the songs on this album sound the same.
The first three tracks – “Dystopic”, “Death#2”, and “Nothing Virus” – are nearly identical sonically. The same monotone growling vocals, the same distorted guitar tone, the same mechanical ambiance. Sure, the lyrics are different track to track, but on individual tracks they’re so repetitive as to be almost mantric. Each of these songs has a choppy delivery: short one-to-three word phrases repeated over and over. The entirety of the lyrics1 for “Dystopic”, for example, are
- “Echoes void.”
- “Shattered dreams fade.”
- “Cold eyes.”
- “Lifeless.”
- “Dystopic.”
- “Endless decay.”
- “Silent machine hums.”
Take those seven phrases and repeat them a handful of times (with interspersed grunts and yells for flavour) in whatever order you like and you’ve got yourself a song. You can do the same for “Death#2”2 with
- “Static fills my…”
- “…numb, cold skin.”
- “Pulse fades.”
- “Heavy, slow breath.”
- “Death in silence.”
- “Shadows take hold.”
- “Life fades away.”
“Nothing Virus” is a bit more varied lyrically, but it still maintains this two-to-three word phrasing in the vocals. If someone heard these three songs from Bong-Ra, they would be more than justified in thinking that “all their songs sound the same”. The fourth track, “Useless Eaters”, finally breaks this pattern by containing no lyrics whatsoever – just many samples of Charles Manson rants. (Never did I think I would be so thankful for Charles Manson.) Not until the seventh track of the album, “Ruins”, do we finally get some variety in the vocals; this and the unsettling “Parasites” both feature some clean vocals in addition to the harsh ones. But don’t worry, the choppy phrasing is present in the clean vocals, as well. “Dystopic” is a great track, but I don’t need that same track slightly reworked in five different ways on the same album—give me some variety, man.
Jason Köhnen’s Bong-Ra has evolved significantly over the past three decades, and Black Noise is a step in a new direction: heavier than his previous fusion work and more digestible than his previous metal work. But Black Noise is not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. Cutting out the forgettable “Death#2”, “Nothing Virus”, “Black Rainbow”, and “…Blissful Ignorance”, Black Noise could have been a decent five-track EP; but as-is, there’s too much filler, not enough killer. With his jump from avant-drone metal to industrial, Köhnen seems to have not yet found his niche in the metal world. To develop a more consistent fanbase, Bong-Ra need to deliver more consistently, both in terms of style and quality.
Recommended tracks: Parasites, Bloodclot, Dystopic
You may also like: DJ Skull Vomit, Intensive Care, Celestial Season
Final verdict: 4.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Debemur Morti Productions – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Bong-Ra is:
– Jason Köhnen (everything)
– Attila Kovacs (touring guitarist)
– Botond Fogl (touring guitarist)
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