As much as I love Chicago’s diverse music scene, my heart still belongs to all things loud as fuck. Loud as fuck is an understatement when describing Bongripper’s doom and stoner metal ways. Their new album, the ridiculously named Satan Worshipping Doom, features four 10-plus minute tracks of slow, deep, bowel rattling metal that rests firmly in the doom and stoner metal genres while hinting at a touch of post-metal, a smidge of black metal, and a pinch of old school thrash. It’s these trace elements that makes Satan Worshipping Doom rise above what can be a tedious genre for those with weak stomachs.

Let’s get one thing out of the way. Yes, Bongripper sounds like a band that maybe doesn’t take itself very seriously. Doom metal and stoner metal, on the surface, seem deadly serious despite itself. Sure, Sleep released an album of one 40+ minute track devoted to smoking dope and Electric Wizard’s dope smoking worship culminated in their Dopethrone album. On the doom side of things bands like Sunn0))) and Earth have plodded their way through albums with barely anything more than one never ending brow note. Yet, none of these bands felt as if they were cracking a smile. Bongripper’s name alone makes one believe they might be doing this with their tongues firmly planted in cheeks. I was weary at first, but one listen to Satan Worshipping Doom, and at least musically, these kids mean business. Besides, any metal worth its weight in salt should make you laugh at its sheer audacity.

Satan Worshipping Doom is nothing if not audacious. Certainly, like any good doom or stoner metal, it spends a shit ton of time laying down fat, slow, and plodding riffs with crash cymbals signaling every key change. The fact that it’s all instrumental just adds to the audacity. What this album does really well, though, is to throw in some outside forces to keep things from getting stale.

Opener, “Hail”, a little more than halfway in to its sludge, takes a breather with a little post-metal breakdown. Basically, this tune is anti-Russian Circles. Where Russian Circles spend much of its time on post-metal noodling and uses moments of heavy metal riffage to bridge the noodles, Bongripper’s “Hail” pummels you for minutes before throwing in a little post-metal tease. Then it carries on with the pummeling. For my money, that there is the right formula.

The follow up, “Satan”, opens with a straight blast of Wolves In The Throne Room style black metal. It too then settles in to a more traditional slab of stoner rock riffage, but really excels halfway in when the band throws down a mean thrash metal riff before falling back into a slower than fuck drone. “Satan” pretty well sums up all the strengths of this record in a little less than 12 minutes. Yet “Worship”, at a smidge over 16, might be the best track of the four despite it’s most straight forward stoner metal-ness. It’s hard to explain, sure, but can be easily summed up with “when it’s done right nothing can beat riff after riff after mighty riff.”

Album closer, “Doom’ is, well, just that. Drone, drone, drone. Even here, though, Bongripper prove themselves to be pretty adept at working just outside of the box. “Doom” drones for minutes, but, imperceptible at first, it continues to grow until, by the eight minute mark, it becomes a swirling mass of noise over the three simple notes. Bands like Sunn0))), for better or worse depending on your patience, don’t feel the need to move their drone forward with much more than a glacial pace. Here, Bongripper give you some doom that you can even eventually head bang to, albeit quite slowly. For added measure, they even go out on one more bad ass stoner rock riff. These kids never stop giving.

Satan Worshipping Doom is no joke. How do I know? When I went and saw Slayer and Megadeth at the UIC Pavilion a few months back, I couldn’t help but maniacally laugh out loud at the spine tingling riffs being shoved in my ears. Great metal, on one level, is fucking hilarious in its sheer ballsiness. The combination of “this is the raddest noise ever” and “am I really pumping my fist to praise/hail Satan?” sometimes is just overwhelmingly funny. There are moments on Satan Worshipping Doom that crack me up. It’s still no joke, mind you, just great fucking metal and a great fucking addition to our fair city’s pretty rad metal scene. Hail Satan, worship doom. Indeed.
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Catch Bongripper on Tuesday, December 7, at Albion House!
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Buy the Satan Worshipping Doom CD Digipak at Feretrorecords.com or a digital-only copy for $5 at Bongripper’s Bandcamp.