Review: Bong-Ra ‘Black Noise’

A name I’ve had an awareness of for at least the last decade, I’ve even managed to surprise myself that, until now, I’ve never heard any output from the enigma that is Bong-Ra. I think, in part, I had always, incorrectly, assumed that they would be another stoner band, taking cues from the Black Sabbath back catalogue, and not done anything to have propelled them into my eyeline.

Imagine my surprise then, when I recently found out that Bong-Ra is actually a one-man project, and that man is a Dutchman named Jason Köhnen, who uses the moniker for his musical output. Having started in the mid ’90s maybe this was why I hadn’t acknowledged them at the time, as for me it was all about anything Max Cavalera related, or nu metal, until The Gathering swept in, and changed my musical outlook completely. If you had said to me about Dutch bands at the time, then you would have had to be prepared for me to bore you to tears about my love for that band, so I guess Bong-Ra just didn’t register.

And now here we are, 2025, and Köhnen is releasing the latest in a long line of albums, remixes, and EP’s onto an unsuspecting world entitled Black Noise. It’s nine stomach churning, brain scrambling slices of pure unfiltered bedlam, and I imagine it will be any anarchist’s wet dream soundtrack from its very opening, to its morose, misery drenched finale.

In my pursuit of information and trivia to add to this review, I took a little trip onto the internet to get a better overview of this, illusive to me, artist, and see just what the rest of the world is saying on the interweb. Now this is where it all got a bit peculiar because on the searches that turned up drum ‘n’ bass or dance music were mentioned, which implies DJ to me, but this is so much more than that, and I feel like the genre isn’t quite right.

Upon listening to Black Noise I hear huge leans towards Ministry and Misery Loves Co., those are the two artists that spring to mind. I feel like if Ministry hadn’t arrived until the late ‘90s, then this is where they would be at now. I certainly didn’t go to the dance genre at all. Yes, there are some drum and bass elements, but they only serve to further make for an unsettling ride, more then something which would have all the local dance nutters arrive on your doorstep any time you played it.

It’s far too abrasive, and why I do understand some of the more extreme dance music has this darker edge, but if I spoke to anyone I know who likes that genre (and to be fair, it isn’t many), then I doubt they would embrace this. And it’s this which leaves me in a very peculiar place, and as such, I will review it for what I take from it, and that’s that to me is more of an industrial project, that uses outside elements as a texture. There, I said it, and I intend to stand by it. I do not think Bong-Ra is dance music…

nine stomach churning, brain scrambling slices of pure unfiltered bedlam…

Now, as for the music itself, the whole feel throughout is of a dystopian apocalypse. This isn’t a comfortable ride at all, it’s a fear inducing, head pummelling journey into insanity.

Tracks like album opener, the aptly titled Dystopic provides a snapshot overview of everything Bong-Ra is all about. Heavy pummelling industrial music, laced with some techno beats, guttural vocals and electronic sampling is as abrasive blasting out of the speakers as you would expect based on these words. It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, which is exactly the feeling I imagine Köhnen is going for.

Any thought of an easier ride on the following track is quickly quashed as an easy little introduction spirals out into an unleashing of pure sonic hatred momentarily. Death#2 takes all of the spite from Dystopic, rolls it up, and regurgitates it out with ten times more bile than before.

This continues with Nothing Virus and as we land at track four, Useless Eaters, all of those electronic elements seem to have been ramped up into overdrive. Thumping electronic music amplifies the heavy and abrasive tone into an unsettling and ominous free for all.

Black Rainbow shows the other side of Bong-Ra and the slow drudgy percussion alongside demonic growls really is a sludgy outpouring. This is also the case on Parasites, and especially here I pick up on that Misery Loves Co. vibes, it’s so nuanced sonically, that it’s hard to ignore.

Closing the album is Blissful Ignorance which gives one last snapshot at just how darkly ambiguous Bong-Ra’s music is with its depressive, hopeless feel, it manages to seal the deal on apocalyptic doom music.

Be wary kids, this one will haunt you long after its finale.

Label: Debemur Morti Productions
Band Links: Official | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram

Scribed by: Lee Beamish