Band:	Ashbreather
Album:	Primordial Bong Soup
Style:	Psychedelic rock, Progressive death metal, Stoner metal
Release date:	August 2023

01. Broth
02. Bong Soup [feat. April Sada Solomon]

After reviewing Hivemind last year, I was eager to see what Ashbreather would come up with next. Now that I’ve heard Primordial Bong Soup, I have to admit, it was not what I was expecting.

Hivemind was an extreme prog tour de force, a 40-minute single-song album with sludge and death metal elements built into a prog-metal framework, and while the group’s prior releases hadn’t gone ‘full prog’ to this extent, they had still been clearly rooted in progressive extreme metal. Imagine my surprise to listen to Primordial Bong Soup and discover that it is not extreme, nor is it really prog. The EP contains 2 songs that are jams recorded in the studio in 2022, before vocals were subsequently added on top, and the tracks clearly sound like the products of jamming sessions. When one ponders what genres are associated with composition via jamming, psychedelic rock naturally rises to the top of the list, so it may not be much of a shock to learn that Primordial Bong Soup is primarily rooted in psychedelic/stoner rock.

This is a pretty substantial jump from Hivemind; the only lingering remnants of extreme metal are some growls partway into “Broth” and a relatively hectic conclusion to the same song. It seems very likely that Primordial Bong Soup is more of an ‘experimentation on the side’ rather than the first step in a radical change of trajectory for Ashbreather that will be cemented on subsequent albums (although perhaps it will be something they feature on a more minor scale going forwards). Nevertheless, one can still assess how successful an experiment it is, and on the whole, I would say that Primordial Bong Soup is fine, if not much more than that.

I do think that the growls on “Broth” are rather ill-fitting when considering the music that they’re accompanying; there is also a snippet of cleaner vocals towards the beginning of this track, and while they’re not particularly noteworthy, they do fit the music better. Alternatively, they could have tried to get a guest singer; there’s guest guitar by April Solomon on “Bong Soup”, and Matt Moss appeared on Hivemind, so it’s not that Ashbreather are averse to guest features. I’d also say that, compared with groups in the same ballpark such as King Buffalo or Yawning Man, there is a slight muddiness to the production that gets in the way of the full potential of the EP’s vibes being unleashed.

On the other hand, these are two pretty enjoyable jams on the whole; Ashbreather know how to deliver the mellowness and sonic expansiveness that this kind of music really benefits from. “Broth” is more of a straightforward psychedelic/stoner jam, with more than a few moments that make me think of some King Buffalo material. It has a steady drum rhythm driving it forward, and a nice mix between clean, hazy melodic guitar tones and fuzzier riffing; when everything combines and ups the ante volume-wise at the end of the song, that muddy production does perhaps undercut the full impact, but it still makes for a satisfying conclusion to the track’s journey.

Probably the more impressive feature on Primordial Bong Soup, at least for me, is “Bong Soup”; while there’s still delicate, shimmering psychedelic guitar tones here, there’s something about the composition here that has my mind thinking more of post-rock, or more specifically, softer Isis material (think “Weight”, or the In The Fishtank collaboration with Aerogramme). The reverberating bass tone, the slightly melancholic guitar tone (which also has more than a touch of Pink Floyd to it), the spacious layering and instrumental arrangement: the texturing and tone of this track is really pleasant, and it makes for a good payoff when it turns faster and (relatively) heavier in the last couple of minutes.

As far as psych rock jam albums go, I suspect this won’t go down as a modern classic; however, it’s still a positive experience listening to Primordial Bong Soup. It’s an unexpected next step from Ashbreather, and one that I personally hope isn’t a sign of things to come, but as a one-off experiment, it’s a pretty good attempt by the Canadian trio.