ALBUM REVIEW: Unending Ascending – Gong

Quintessential prog oddballs GONG are one of a dying breed. For more than 50 tumultuous years, the French collective have been stretching music to the limits of sense and sensibility, and now with their new album Unending Ascending, they bring all of that experience to the table with a record as timeless as they are.

In a span of just three songs, GONG flex a broad range of their capabilities. From the driving and twisting power of My Guitar Is A Spaceship, into the yoga-like zen and palatial serenity of Ship Of Ishtar, and shifting again into the noodly proficiency of O, Arcturus!, GONG are able to switch effortlessly without anything sounding forced or out of their wheelhouse. Vocalist Kavus Torabi dispatches soft melodies and full bodied choruses with aplomb, while the spasmodic saxophone of Ian East and ever-shifting guitar lines of Fabio Golfetti bring a delightful dose of fun to the record.

What is clear is that the oddness of seminal cuts Angel’s Egg or Flying Teapot is gone, phased off into the cosmos with GONG‘s original beating heart, Daevid Allen. It still has its irresistible oddities, like the tumbling synths of Tiny Galaxies or impish spirit of All Clocks Reset, but overall – at least for a GONG record – Unending Ascending is somewhat straight laced. That’s not to say though that it detracts from the quality; instead it shows their ability and willingness to move with the times. No longer are we in the psychedelic-racked throes of the 60s and 70s (although it wouldn’t be a surprise if certain substances have retained their place in the studio) and this iteration of GONG feels just as comfortable making you scratch your chin as they are in making you bang your head.

Choose Your Goddess in particular bridges these realms best of all, calling to mind LED ZEPPELIN‘s Immigrant Song in its opening riff, before a rollercoaster ride that takes you through dreamy soundscapes and cataclysmic cacophonies in tandem. In just seven minutes, GONG cover just about everything that psychedelic prog rock has ever been and what it continues to be, both a reminder of the groundwork they helped to lay in their many incarnations, and that they continue to be a pivotal proponent of rock’s strangest offspring.

Asleep We Do Lay closes Unending Ascending in a golden wash of tranquility, with shimmering brushed cymbals and soft chimes laying a feather soft foundation for Torabi‘s wispy vocals and a cavalcade of introspective guitars and strings. If laying in a wild meadow, gazing into space alongside your nearest and dearest could be dispelled into a sound, this would be it.

For the longest time, GONG will have been an acquired taste. But now in 2023, they’ve produced an incredible culmination of their work to date, while keeping in step with the advancements of the prog rock genre they have long upheld. Better still, they’ve done it without losing their own sense of self. If Unending Ascending is your first time encountering GONG, this is a spectacular introduction. If you’ve followed the band for years, this is a marvellous continuation and evolution of their work. Either way, long live GONG.

Rating: 8/10

Unending Ascending is out now via Kscope.

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