Formed in 2022 in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A. by 7 music school nerds, DOOM GONG has made a name for themselves internationally with their own home-baked genre, Denim Psych – a hodgepodge of psychedelic rock, jazz fusion, bedroom pop, lo-fi, contemporary classical music, as well as blood, sweat, and a lot of denim.

Having only released their first two LP’s in 2023 (DOOM GONG and Dream Behemoth), DOOM GONG has quickly become a mainstay of the psych scene in the U.S. and abroad, performing their enigmatic and seamless live shows alongside the likes of Amyl and the Sniffers, The Black Angels, BADBADNOTGOOD, Allah Las, King Buffalo, Bass Drum of Death, Death Valley Girls, HOLY WAVE, Gustaf, Ron Gallo…In 2024, DOOM GONG launched their international presence, completing two summer tours consisting of 24 shows across the eastern United States and Canada with immense reception. Soon after, the denim assemblage partnered with Romanus Records to produce vinyl of their debut album – all presses were sold out within an hour of its release. [ed note: I have a copy, just haven’t featured it here yet]

Side A of Megagong is heavy on the dreamy: synth-drenched and swirly, see especially “The Perilous Rise.’ Side B is distinctively heavier: one of my favorites on Megagong is not all dreamy (though it has moments): the single “Annihilator” which was released before the LP and currently the only track with any kind of link (I’m guessing until tomorrow) is mostly hard hard heavy prog synth with glimpses of Motörhead and Sabbath.  As the title suggests “Spiral Dance of Imminent Doom” is another hard and heavy rocker (with proggy synths!) which is also supremely ass-shakey. Slightly less heavy and profoundly more frenetic is the excellent title track “Megagong.” Brilliant and otherworldly.

Doom Gong is currently on tour (not in the upper Midwest unfortunately, but I begged them to put Milwaukee on their circuit next time ’round) – this is one of those bands that you must see live to fully experience the intelligent insanity of their music.

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