Lighters out, Bonginator is back.
After two years in the making, Erik Thorstenn (guitar/vocals), Joseph McNamara (drums), Ben Sonsire-Cummings (guitar), and Jack Shanahan (bass) announce the release of their second album, Retrodeath, on Testimony Records.
The album kicks off with the introductory sample Sequence Initiation and its 70s sci-fi sounds, then an industrial rhythm takes over to lead us into All We Really Are Is Livestock, which gets straight to the point with groovy Death Metal and a massive sound. The vengeful screams counterbalance the lighter percussion, but you can tell that the riffs are meant to get us moving, judging by the slower mosh parts, including the one that leads to the final and then to All Cops Are Biomechs and its intro, which is on par with the big names in disco. The rhythm finally explodes and carries us away in its extremely effective old-school flow, while making us smile thanks to the lyrics. The same goes for Pizza Time, where the musicians welcome Belushi Speed Ball for an extra touch of raw energy and marked Hardcore influences. You will of course recognize the sample that disrupts the wave of rage, then the band continues to trample us before launching into The Fog Interlude, where Synthwave fans will be delighted to enjoy the vaporous sounds before The Fog rolls over us for good, maintaining its horrific atmosphere between two waves of pure violence. There are passages where the musicians go wild at full speed against a backdrop of blasts, but the solo marks the end of the song, followed by Short Ass Bus, where the band welcomes Big Ass Truck and Ignominious to develop its wildest roots. The vocal parts follow one another before a heady finale, then Lunk Alarm screams at us before letting its riffs assault us in turn, borrowing its groove from the Slam and Goregrind scene for a good while before returning to Electro nuances to slow things down on Intruder Organism Interlude. Once the festive moment has passed, Fulci joins the four lads for Intruder Organism, a track that has already been unveiled but remains undoubtedly one of the most effective on the album, continuously pouring out its macabre Brutal Death without giving us a moment’s respite. We move on to Who Let the “Things” (1989) Out, where the introduction is clearly modeled on the coldness of industrial, but which retains its Death Metal basis, continuing with simple but catchy riffs and waiting until the last moment to suddenly accelerate and reach the outro, where the band calls on Tim Capello for very soft tones worthy of a B-movie, with a totally unexpected saxophone passage.
It’s impossible to know what Bonginator really has in store for us unless we listen to this album! Retrodeath takes us from laughter to moshing, from suspense to headbanging, but above all, the album promises us an excellent time!
80/100