Moving right along — here are a couple albums that were each released a few years back, but caught my attention when they were given the vinyl reissue treatment in 2021.

One is a drone/doom/free-form jazz thing from the Netherlands and the other is a more goth-oriented troupe from Portlandia. Hopefully you’ll find one of these will be to your liking. Maybe both! Only one way to find out…

Bong-Ra – Antediluvian (digital/CD Svart Lava Records and cassette Tartarus Records, 23 October 2018; vinyl Tartarus Records, 25 June 2021)

Murderbait – When the Sun Goes Down, It Goes Down Forever (digital self-released 15 November 2019; vinyl Sentient Ruin, 15 October 2021)

Per my sources, I understand Bong-Ra began life as some sort of breakcore entity, before metamorphosizing into its current “2.0” incarnation by adopting more of a dark metallic persona.

Indistinct singing or chanting, squealy and noodly saxophone parts, and random piano and other keyboard parts weave in and out of these lengthy compositions that are comprised chiefly of heavy doom drumming (with occasional jazzy flourishes) with intensely-distorted and overwhelmingly bass-laden droned notes and chords.

This is exactly the sort of peculiar experimentalism that thrives on an old turntable and a room-shaking pair of stereo speakers, so I’d implore interested parties to seek out a physical copy quickly while they are still available.

* * *

The Murderbait EP includes two songs, just over eight minutes each. Between the title track and “Unravelling” you’ll find a slowly-shuffling twang reminiscent of “Under the Milky Way“, Peter Murphy-esque baritone vocals run through a heavy spring reverb; and various elements that are likely to appeal to fans of 80s-style gothic or goth-adjacent sounds as wide-ranging as The Cult, The Cure, Nick Cave, etc., but stretched out and spaced out wrapped in swirling waves of psychedelia.

Quantities of the vinyl release of Antediluvian are very limited: check here (US) or here (EU), and of course you can listen/download on Bandcamp (see below).
 
And When the Sun Goes Down is available digitally or on special edition 10″ vinyl here, here, or here (all US), or listen/download via the Bandcamp widget below.
 

* * * * * * *

http://svartlava.bandcamp.com
http://tartarusrecords.com
http://shop.tartarusrecords.com
 
http://murderbait.bandcamp.com
http://sentientruin.com
http://sentientruin.bandcamp.com