Review: Belzebong ‘The End Is High’
I vividly remember being utterly transfixed when I watched Belzebong perform in Manchester at Riffolution Festival back in October 2024. They create an eerie atmosphere, bathed in darkened green lights, whilst having huge amounts of energy on stage, so I was intrigued to find out what they had in store for us with their latest release.
As per usual, the fearsome foursome from Poland are uncompromising in their approach to stoner doom, and these songs cement their place at the top table of bands in this genre. As soon as the opening bars of Bong & Chain cascade out of your speakers, there’s that rush of adrenaline and excitement because this lot don’t mess about. They live and die by their worship of the fuzzed-out riffs they create, but this has that added spectre of melodic menace flowing through it as well, to make the almost eleven minutes sound even more potent.
420 Horsemen gallops into action and immediately kicks up the pace somewhat, with guitarists Alky and Cheesy having a right old battle with each other, as the riffs get heavier and more monstrous with each passing moment. I know that doom is meant to be slow, and almost procession-like in its delivery, so the injection of pace in this track really energises the whole album. This is the shortest track of the four but sounds vibrant and alive with its fierce, spaced-out delivery, whilst being blistering and brutal in sections.
when they go really slow, almost crawling in parts, the evil that radiates out is spectacular…
There’s another brief spoken word introduction at the beginning of Hempnotized as the heaviness reverberates in the background, but then you feel the full force. With all the songs referencing their love of weed, this is a band who, in their own words, ‘live by the fuzz and die by the bong’ and create sinister compositions which end up becoming things of abject beauty. With more spoken words in this song than the others, their instrumental prowess flows in abundance, with Sheepy on bass and drummer Hexy doing a fine job setting the tempos that the songs reverberate around.
Closer, Reefer Mortis, is another behemoth at just under ten minutes, yet you’ll never tire of listening to it. The riffs flow effortlessly from the guitars, and it’s like a crushing slab of impending doom is pouring over your senses, and you are quite simply powerless to stop it. There is something deeply satanic about their ritualistic musings, almost apocalyptic in delivery, and with a monologue midway that adds more fuel to the burning fire. And when they go really slow, almost crawling in parts, the evil that radiates out is spectacular.
Label: Heavy Psych Sounds
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Matthew Williams
