Bog Monkey – Hollow
March 3rd, 2023
Sludge / Stoner Metal / Noise Rock
Independently Released
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
I first discovered Bog Monkey when a friend of mind recommended them on Twitter, and I was immediately drawn in by the name of the band and the album cover. Come on, look at that. Does that album cover not look awesome as hell to you? While I initially misunderstood this album as having been from 2024 instead of 2023 I decided I’m still going to review it now anyways because I’ve been listening to it a whole bunch. Do you like spacey, progressive, noisy as hell sludge metal? Then this record is for you.
Upon first putting this thing in I was expecting something like your average Black Sabbath and / or Eyehategod worship project, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that this record was indeed not that. While certainly bands like Sabbath and Eyehategod have influences that are so far reaching and widespread in the world of heavy music that it’s almost impossible to measure properly, Bog Monkey are doing their own thing.
The vocals are here, for sure, but they honestly take a bit of a back seat to the overall picture. The guitar riffs and the spacey atmosphere take center stage here, and I’m all for it. When the vocals do come in, they’re kind of a gruff, yelling sort of style that you’d expect from this style of heavy-as-balls riff-centric music. It’s not that the vocals are bad, but they are so few and far between that I actually forgot this isn’t an instrumental record, leading me to wonder if they should even be there to begin with. That said I’d like to hear a Bog Monkey record in the future with more vocals involved.
The riffs, however, provided by guitarist Zach and basisst Joji, are where its at. There is a lot of creativity and fun to be had on this record. Songs like “Crow” are unapologetically heavy, throwing some screaming squeals into the mix that add a metallic edge to the sludge. Other tracks like “Facemint” are surprisingly upbeat and have hooks for days. One of the tags the band uses to describe themselves is “party doom” and I think that’s quite apt given just how rockin’ these songs are. These dudes are here to have fun making awesome music, and it certainly shows in the guitar work on here.
The drums, who I assume are provided by Doug, are fantastic too. There’s a lot of creativity going on behind the kit here too, with multiple passages of killer fills, sections that are relatively slow and drawn out morphing into faster moments, and tempos that are all over the map. Some songs like “Slither” have a cool surf rock feel to them thanks to the swaying drum approach backing the reverb-drenched lead guitars. Other tracks like “Facemint” have straight up blast beats in them. Awesome as hell.
The album also sounds great as a whole. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Jay Matheson in a jam space in South Carolina, this thing sounds absolutely amazing given the circumstances of its location. Let it never be said that jam space recordings cannot sound good because this album is proof positive of the opposite. It sounds real, like this was performed by actual humans, and yet every instrument sounds clear and in your face. The guitars are drenched in reverb, the bass is fuzzed out, and the drums don’t overpower anything.
Bog Monkey have killed it with this release for sure, and especially in a genre like doom metal and sludge metal where every other band sounds the same, this album comes as a breath of fresh air. It’s creative, fun, loud and abrasive, while also being atmospheric and spacey. There’s a lot to love about this record, and while it does lack a certain something that pushes it over into amazing territory, it’s still a very solid release. I look forward to hearing whatever Bog Monkey does next.
Final Verdict: 8/10
Great
Favourite Tracks:
“Crow”
“Facemint”
“Tunnel”
“Trip”
~ Akhenaten
Where Strides The Behemoth? 