Gonga ‘Transmigration’ CD 2008

After being plagued with line up changes, this Bristol four piece Gonga have now unleashed their long awaited second album. I started this review heeded by some good info about this release being a grower. There is defiantly more then meets the ear to this CD and I did indeed find it took a few spins to start unravelling what it’s got to offer. My initial thoughts on this where the ‘Queens of the Stone Age’ vibe the vocals give to the music, but after more exposure, the heaviness starts to become more apparent and the different layers running thought this release start to come through.

Proceedings commence with ‘Knight Thyme’ which is thick, slow and heavy with some cool stoner type vocal. ‘Wytch Hande’ keeps the slow moving ball rolling with some hard riffing and solid drumming again, accompanied by the laid back stoner vocal. ‘Stethogeo’ sees Gonga pick up the pace somewhat blasting and rocking along nicely. This also goes for ‘The Greaser’, another up-tempo number showing a different side to this band. I mentioned the ‘Queens…’ vibe before; well these more rocky up-tempo tracks really bring that to the fore. Last track ‘La Pique’ is a 16 minute beast of a number incorporating both the slow and fast styles seen throughout this CD before slipping into more of a jam feel for the last half of the number.

It’s worth mentioning the two trippy instrumental tracks mixed in here namely ‘The Room of Unhallowed Rites and Alchemies’ and ‘The Room of Accursed Rites and Forbidden Transmigrations’. Strange numbers and total different to the rest of the tracks. Also well worth a mention is the awesome production on this, with the instruments sounding thick and heavy while the vocal soulful and soaring. Bring on Grind to Groove III….

Label: Invada Records
Website: www.myspace.com/g0nga

Scribed by: Mark Burns