Late to the Party: Bahboon - Thunder Ape

 

I really have absolutely no idea how I missed this deliciousness from October 2023, but I did. I can only assume, being a mere one month into contributing to the Doom Charts at the time, I was a bit overzealous and missed some things as a result. Ah...excitable, easily distracted Doomcakes... I mean well, I promise. 

Of course, it's always better to be a little late than to never hear something at all, and it's even better to remind the underground community about awesome bands, so here we go...

Bahboon

Today, I'm talking about none other than a stoner/garage/heavy psych band called Bahboon, from Tokyo. It's quite likely that you've heard of these guys; they did come in at number eight on the October Doom Charts (my personal favorite month of Doom Charting thus far) with their latest album, Thunder Ape. The band has been making some incredibly good music for about a decade at this point, and has released four albums at the time of this writing:

• Good Night (February 2015)
• Super Science 1 & 2 (July 2016)
• Genjin Attack (February 2018)
• Thunder Ape (October 2023)

This awesome band finally made their way onto my radar in February 2024 with the release of the music video for Rampage, a track from the Thunder Ape album:

 

For our purposes today, the primary focus will be Thunder Ape and how it clearly shows a noticeable and brilliant evolution in Bahboon's musical approach.

Thunder Ape 

Prior to Thunder Ape, Bahboon's sound had more of a garage/alternative rock feel (with Good Night being my personal favorite of the band's earlier albums).  Conversely, their 2018 release, Genjin Attack, went in more of a punk rock direction. Thunder Ape, according to the band, is more of an "aggressive" rendition of their sound. I may not have to remind you that garage rock and alternative rock in particular are two of my very favorite genres of music in the world, but I found myself absolutely enamored with the direction Bahboon took on their latest album. Thunder Ape both introduces some new techniques for Bahboon and adds intricacy and depth to their old ones. First of all, their riffs here are much heavier, even doomy at times.  There's a lot more dabbling in blues, psychedelic rock, and proto metal, which is very apparent on the song Rampage. The album's title track places a stronger emphasis on the stoner/desert rock style in a very high quality way while maintaining the band's originality. Cosmic Drive, Briefed, and Pilar Man in the Sun are more psychedelic and progressive in nature, a bit of a return to the style utilized on Bahboon's first two albums. Thunder Ape's final track, Growler, is an eight-minute jam fest driven by some heavy psychedelic/proto metal riffs. The vocals on this six-track album are out of this world, incredibly powerful, melodic, and soaring. They have a bit of a retro-rock feel, in the vein of bands like Saturna. 

Thunder Ape, as a whole, contains ample and incredible variety, stellar musicianship, and talent abound. When I hear underground bands like this, especially those that have been around for years, I absolutely cannot believe that they aren't on the radio or on the cover of Rolling Stone. Bahboon would certainly be deserving of such accolades; their hard work is strikingly evident all over their music, old and new. Not only that, but they've demonstrated their ability to successfully evolve their sound into something even more layered, complex, and just...lovely, for lack of a better word. And that, my friends, is the kind of band that stands the test of time. I may be a few months late to this party, but I feel incredibly fortunate to have heard Bahboon's music. 

In summation, as stated in Bahboon's social media bios: "The thunder of piercing riffs, the explosion of swirling grooves. My God! full of stars!!"

Bahboon Is:

Shohey Suyama - vocals and guitar

Masaki Takai - guitar

Yasuhiro Shimizu - bass

Jun Saito - drums

If you dig Bahboon as much as I do, don't forget to be a good citizen and show them some much-deserved love on the following sites: Bandcamp, Spotify, Facebook, and Instagram. 

If you like Bahboon, be sure to check out OTHO!