Space Bong – The Death of Utopia

On a very hot day at the lake, the degrees are getting up in the 100s and there’s no sign of the Gods sending reinforcements of winter cold breezes. As the day starts to wind down and the heat is still pounding onto the top of my head, I’m wondering if things will ever get stormy, thunderous and in the words of my wise cousin, “Where in the hell are the sea monsters that should be devouring us whole while we glide across the lake at half mass?” The heat is way too much to bear but thank God I have my laptop to provide some type of comfort from my every day rituals. After many run-throughs looking for what I could review, I simply picked the one that could engulf the surrounding camp sites and make the waves of the lake whitecap to the point that I had to get on my knees to pray to some majesty that couldn’t save me from the shit fest that was about to overtake me. The shit fest that I speak of is the all and knowing Space Bong storming out of Adelaide’s open waters. Maybe I’m just crazy from this heat or maybe I’m finally realizing that doom/sludge is the key to my heart but Space Bong is the creature of the black lagoon, even the sultan of swat. If Space Bong is all of those things, that makes “The Death of Utopia” the queen to my kingdom or the rare dime in my shit bag of nickels.

“The Death of Utopia”, the outrageous debut record from this South Australian powerhouse is not a storm any single being would want to mess with. To say that “The Death of Utopia” is anything but exciting and fresh would be an understatement. I believe that you have to discover many rotten, disgusting corpses with nothing left in them before you find that one that will make you millions, also known as “the diamond in the rough”. We’re talking about dead rotting corpses at the bottom of lakes that are stuffed with cocaine and hundred dollar bills. The way that the bass lines shake the lake shores, so much to the point that my grandmother could feel her heart rate building and her lungs swaying back and forth inside of her old, fragile body. How hard the tones of the drums strike as I try to grab onto something before my knees buckle, my neck starts to take the shape of an owl and twists all the way around. I know what you’re thinking. Yes, the drum sections and hits that Wynn brings on this record can be pretty intense but not to the point that you lose focus on the other mystical adventures that are going on in the record.

The aftermath of this record could be summarized by past horrible events such as the attacks on the World Trade Centers or the Oklahoma City bombing. No, the record itself will not be causing mass amounts of deaths in the hundreds or thousands but it will make you question what you just listened to, so much to the point that you may not be strong enough to withstand another attack like the one you just took to your cranium. “Death Kneel (The New Death)”, the second track on the record, deserves the most praise, simply for the fact that that it crushes your insides like a burning jet engine with its extremely deep, bullfrog like bass and shallow drum tempos as of with each hit of the snare or kick drum made the lake water boil and bubble with maximum pressure.

It might sound like I’m praising this record for all of it’s worthy, sluggish sections and its overbearing vocals that seem to suffocate you with its tangled webs of complexity and unforgivable torture. If that’s what you might be thinking, its probably because it’s true and “The Death of Utopia” deserves more praise and worship than most churches or religions. Not to mention, the pussy “lady of the lake” has nothing on “The Death of Utopia”.

Listen to “Death Kneel (The New Death) below:

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