Bahboon’s Thunder Ape is a release of outstanding proportions; marking the Japanese band’s ten year anniversary there’s an instant relationship to be found with the album due to the deep rooted cohesion in its flow; while simultaneously every turn along the way expands the river’s banks, rises from the waters with religious purpose to push the spire on the Church of stoner ever higher and wider.
Track one ‘Rampage’ is a thunderously bluesy stomp that off the bat makes clear how utterly astounding in every respect Thunder Ape is from musicianship, to composition, to choice of tone, to production; a track worth the price of the album alone, except as utterly bizarre as it may seem that price on bandcamp is—at the time of writing at least—NYP; aka free if you need it to be.
Title track ‘Thunder Ape’ grooves deep with an assault on the senses that lives up to the name: a thunderous barrage of drums all else surfs on with cool sleek style casually casting hooks infectious in bounds.
‘Cosmic Drive’ bristles with a maturity that shows the worth of ten years as a band; bearing some seriously stylish riffs it’s nothing short of stunning as the track crescendos to its orgasmic finale.
‘Briefed’ sees Bahboon take a step back to 2014 debut release Good Night where a slightly longer and different working of the track appears as ‘BRIEFed’. Either way, it becomes an absolute treat when taking a deliciously deep dive into the realms of dub only to then re-emerge as a fully encompassing psych rock epic.
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‘Pillar Man in the Sun’ is so damn cool the Pillar Man could be made of ice and still not melt in the middle of a dessert in the middle of a heatwave. This—much as the album is as a whole, it should be said—is a sound to get thoroughly lost in somewhere different every listen, an ever rolling laidback trip that melds with wherever one’s mindset is at the time to take it along for a ride: a saunter round a local store in search of groceries suddenly the most fascinating pursuit the planet has to offer; people at checkouts displaying signs of all sorts of new found mystique.
‘Growler’ swaggers crushingly before transitioning into some super chilled vibes that in time build seamlessly back to the purposeful strut; the solo again surfing across the top of the sound as though majestically poised on the peak of a towering wave: only here the vocals prowl shark-like within the waters.
Thunder Ape isn’t just a thoroughly cultured album, rich with all the genres it touches, it’s a masterpiece, an album that will blow the mind of anyone introduced to it; for without doubt they will wonder how they managed to never come across this highly accomplished decade old band before.
Here’s to another ten years of Bahboon (and hopefully many more)!
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N. P. Ryan
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