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Bongripper > Hippie Killer > Reviews > Minderleister
Bongripper - Hippie Killer

80 minutes of Post-Sludge - 93%

Minderleister, July 7th, 2013

When I first heard of a band called "Bongripper" I immediately thought "oh my god, again one of these standard stoner-sludge bands like Belzebong". Don't get the wrong end of the stick. There are absolutely great stoner-sludge records out there. Bongzilla is a great example of that, but one might get the feeling that most of the newcomer bands of this genre get boring pretty fast and focus too much on sounding like the "masters" than creating their own authentic style. However, a friend of mine told me Bongripper made some really nice records, so I took the "Hippie Killer" on my mp3-player, went to a river nearby my home, heard Black Sabbath's Paranoid for a 1000000th time, and the next band in the alphabetical order was Bongripper. As I said, I didn't expect that much, but what I heard totally blew me away.

Hippie Killer starts with an atmospheric intro that takes about two minutes. After this rather quiet introduction to this brutal masterpiece, it's time for their first "hit" on this record called "Reefer Sutherland", 16 minutes beginning with a brutal sludge riff that will stay in your head for the rest of the month. The song goes on and at some point it breaks and gets more and more atmospheric, even Yawning Man-style psychedelic. At this point you could think it's rather Hippie Creator than Hippie Killer, but when "Terrible Bear Attack", a classic and aggressive sludge song (and by the way, the only Bongripper song with vocals) begins, you first realize how low their instruments are tuned. I guess it's A-D-G-C-E-A. The songs "Osaria", "Je m'appelle", "Droid Developer", as well as the intro, "Tranny Ride", act more like connections between the other songs to keep the album flowing.

Another part you don't expect is the 2nd hit, "Charlie, Burt Reynolds Has Got Shit on You", which sounds like a really, really deep post-rock/post-metal song. Very atmospheric, very emotional, and very melancholic. Melancholic highness is caught in a song, but not played. It's really fuckin' authentic and touching, as kitschy as it might sound. This is one of the songs that prove that Bongripper are NOT like all the other stoner-sludge bands out there, but pay attention, this might not be your kind of style if you are not familiar with atmospheric sludge bands like Isis or Cult of Luna.

But seriously, the way "Charlie, Burt Reynolds Has Got Shit on You" is less brutal, the last two tracks, "Thanks for Sticking Around" and "Her Highness", are even more brutal. "Thanks for Sticking Around" isn't even sludge. It's drone/doom. I am still stunned that these guys had the balls to write a fuckin' drone/doom song for this album even if it's one of the weaker songs (which doesn't mean it's weak, by the way). To complete this album, "Her Highness" shows the hypnotizing effects of a great riff within weird timing. 13 minutes, just one heavy riff, and nice breaks and stuff to create an atmosphere full of pressure.

To finally summarize, what I found here is a fuckin' great piece of art. As long as you love sludge and you are an open-minded person, you will love this record. It contains deep, brutal, and pissed sludge, atmospheric post-metal/atmospheric sludge, and even some drone/doom. Even if one doesn't like it, everyone has to admit it's a really interesting record that's worth checking out.