Bong-Ra, the jazzy doom-metal project of Jason Kohnen from Celestial Season and The Answer Lies In The Black Void will release its sophomore album Meditations on August 5th once again via Tartarus Records.
Returning with the follow-up to the 2021’s gargantuan debut album Antediluvian, Bong-Ra unveils yet another inventive and colossal blend of doom-metal, free-jazz and electronics. Written and produced by Jason Köhnen, with mastering handled by James Plotkin, Meditations features the contributions of Dmitry el Demerdashi (oud), Colin Webster (saxophone) and Eugene Bodenstaff (drums) and is inspired by the teachings of the Stoics, paying homage to Marcus Aurelius’ personal writings bearing the same name. Pre-orders are now available.
A new track titled “Wisdom” is now playing at Everything Is Noise, who stated, “The track ‘Wisdom’ is haunting, packing wild saxophone licks and twisted vocal chants, all underscored by a hellish bassline. The blending of free jazz and doom could not be better, and I find myself questioning whether I actually prefer this style to bands more established in the genre, like Five The Heirophant.”
Listen to “Wisdom” over on Everything Is Noise.
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As one of the pioneers of the electronic harsh subgenre’s Breakcore together with artists like Venetian Snares and DJ Scud, Bong-Ra (v1.0) lead the Breakcore scene for two decades, preaching his manic rhythms across the globe between 1998 and 2018.
After twenty years of carnage Jason Kohnen decided to metamorphosise his Bong-Ra alter ego and return to his original roots and passion of Doom. Founding member of the recently revived Dutch Doom Metal band ‘Celestial Season’ and Atmospheric Doom outfit The Answer Lies In The Black Void with Martina Horvath (Thy Catalfaque), he transformed Bong-Ra (v2.0) into a sub-based Doom machine using the bass as the key ingredient supported by free-jazz flavoured drums and saxophone.
