ALBUM REVIEW: Ampire – BongBongBeerWizards
Emerging from the dark, obscure depths of Dortmund in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany comes a cacophony of heavy meditational doom from BONGBONGBEERWIZARDS (BBBW). Daunting, enigmatic and ominous, the sheer gravity of the band’s new album Ampire will pull you into its fuzz-drenched orbit and spiral you into a strange, hazy purgatory, left to wander aimlessly through murky soundscapes accented with vivid hallucinations, which probably sounds like the effect of having two bongs. Even so, BBBW have revamped their sound and utilised their influences to craft dramatic, foreboding and formidable soundscapes, with riffs containing that much gravity they could crumble mountains.
Ampire is born out of the creative desire BBBW had to create a weird film-like soundtrack for a concept that was being mulled over in their minds. The result is a twisted retelling of the age old story trope of good fighting the bad, as well as exploring “the one true evil” idea. In the case of Ampire, the counterparts of evil are gathered upon the summit of a mountain in the form of priests. The album tells the story of an endless pilgrimage to reach the summit of this nefarious mountain, with choirs summoning the endless waves of evil. With this concept in mind, the album takes on a sinister and gloomy tone as the waves of fuzz and choral chanting wash over you. With the pacing and darkness of a funeral dirge, Ampire’s three hefty songs definitely make you feel like you’re hiking up that mountain yourself.
Ampire also sees the continuation of a theme that the band started on their 2020 EP Albong, in which heavenly, celestial chanting is juxtaposed with hulking, demonic sludgy riffs. By building their soundscapes and incorporating these elements alongside some eerie atmospherics, swirling guitar effects and bountiful amounts of feedback, you definitely get a sense of space, a grim and gloomy landscape void of joy. With each track it feels like you’re ascending further into hell, so it begs the question, is this pilgrimage actually descending as the disciples walk the path of an inverted mountain charting Dante’s nine circles of hell? BBBW definitely keep your imagination ticking over as you fall into a deep meditative trance.
Despite this, whilst the concept is interesting and intriguing, you can’t help but feel like some of it gets lost in translation. To many this may feel like a rambling, maundering expanse of noise, as whilst there are some memorable parts it ultimately all bends into one with no real direction or purpose other than to make fuzz-laden noise. There are some solid stoner riffs in there that have a semblance of groove but ultimately the lack of dynamic variation and the reliance on droning chords can become monotonous quite quickly. Whilst many of BBBW’s contemporaries will seek to gradually expand a song over the course of its runtime, there doesn’t seem to be much of that here bar the occasional appliance of chanting to the distortion.
The 23-minute giant Choir & Masses takes up half of the album’s runtime and is more fuzz riff than choirs. You’re lead to believe that there will be more religious sounding elements by the song title and as the opening track it is there to establish the theme, which it doesn’t do particularly well. Unison runs along a similar path but has more variation, with some areas where you can have a break from the constant fuzz. The final track Slumber carries this album, starting off with an eerie atmosphere and strange noises that will unnerve you and gradually evolving into a faster paced, pounding song. This song ebbs and flows, building beautifully with some epic chanting. It feels like the direction that the band should be heading in, shifting within the atmospheres to create spine-tingling moments.
Whilst it can be enjoyable to get lost in the fuzz and concept of Ampire, overall it’s a pretty mixed bag. On the one hand it is a perfectly serviceable droning doom record filled with tangible darkness and obscurity, but on the other hand it just feels like its lacking that little bit of extra experimentation that would give the band’s unique concept a chance to really shine.
Rating: 6/10
Ampire is set for release on June 24th via Electric Valley Records.
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