Tuesday Teardown: Bongripper – Satan Worshipping Doom
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Tuesday Teardown: Bongripper – Satan Worshipping Doom

More often than not, listening to instrumental doom is like jerking off and not… Well, you know. There’s this epic build-up and all you want to hear is some vocals. Something human and intense. Instrumental doom by definition lacks this. Few bands can pull it off. In fact, the only ones that I regularly listen to is Earth and Chicago-based Bongripper. With their previous-releases, Heroin, Hippie Killer and Hate Ashbury, they just kinda killed the genre for anyone else.

Satan Worshipping Doom is as much of a satirical jab at the instrumental doom genre as anything. How could something be Satanic without vocals? Duh. Get some evil-ass album art! Opening the abyss is the first track “Hail” which picks up where Hate Ashbury left off. The distinct sound, the picking of the riffs, the colliding percussion and the shear fucking weight of it all. Bongripper is like a ton of bricks.

Picking up the pace a bit is “Satan”. This is Bongripper. Epicly-heavy with a bit more tempo. “Satan” is my second favorite cut on the LP because it’s more akin to modern instrumental black metal than doom. It’s a pace I’ve never heard Bongripper travel at and towards the end, they take it back down a few notches.

With only 4-tracks, my favorite is by far “Worship”. Sixteen minutes of hellish fun. I say fun because once again, have you seen the album art? To end the LP is “Doom”, an homage to the genre. You really can’t beat Bongripper. Their entire catalog is one-long hit and Hate Ashbury solidifies all of their efforts. As an unsigned band, they thrive off of album sales so make sure you hit up their Myspace and buy their limited-edition vinyl! It comes with a free download as well.