Bongripper’s latest album, Empty, solidifies their reign over the instrumental stoner doom landscape, delivering an experience that is as crushing as it is devoid. True to its title, the record unfurls as a monolithic expanse of sound, each prolonged, sludgy riff echoing through a desolate sonic void, conjuring feelings of existential dread and immense, suffocating weight.
The Chicago quartet masterfully crafts a soundscape where low-end frequencies are not just felt but absorbed, reverberating with a bleak finality that is both hypnotic and intensely disorienting. There’s a relentless, almost ritualistic quality to the sustained notes and slow, grinding progressions, building an oppressive atmosphere that leaves little room for light, making Empty an immersive journey into the vast, heavy unknown for anyone seeking to be overwhelmed by the sheer, unyielding power of instrumental doom.
