DOOM GONG – ‘MEGAGONG’ [Album Review]

DOOM GONG recently released their latest long player, entitled MEGAGONG, the third album of a trilogy that began with their 2023 self-titled album, followed by DREAM BEHEMOTH.

With MEGAGONG, the band completes their self-styled rock opera, confronting the socio-cultural flaws of the past, while examining a future that inevitably ends in all-encompassing catastrophe.

DOOM GONG’s sound, self-described as “Denim Psych,” merges elements of acid jazz fusion, heavy metal, prog-rock, neo-psychedelia, and contemporary classical music into imaginative, intricate montages.

Comprising nine tracks, MEGAGONG begins with “Entr’acte,” traveling on a swirling ¤50s sci-fi-like melody topped by dreamy vocals. “Entr’acte” flows effortlessly into “Never Crossed My Mind,” a blend of psychedelia and ambient dream-pop. The song shimmers and wavers on layers of spaced-out, high-pitched synths emanating chiming colors.

“Annihilator,” a personal favorite because of its dark, edgy textures, conveys heavy surfaces of gritty psych-rock as spectral, lysergic vocals imbue the lyrics with industrial-like, chaotic tones. There’s a hallucinogenic, prog-rock feel to this track, as well as sensations akin to Rob Zombie or Nine Inch Nails gone all Phantom of the Opera.

DOOM GONG, photo by Jo Morecraft

Vaguely reminiscent of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, “Spiral Dance of Imminent Doom” features intoxicating, glowing vocals that shift from soft and melodic to hard and rasping. As the melody evolves, it takes on more and more freneticism.

The title track rolls out on clotted, growling guitars riding a tight, rumbling rhythm that pushes almost brutally. Then the melody shifts, assuming flavors of psych-rock that maintain the propulsive, anarchic mood of the tune. A drifting bridge segues to the gentle outro, unveiling glittering filaments of sound that summon up memories of The Sound of Music.

DOOM GONG’s third album is deliciously retro, sideways, and wildly innovative, revealing a band that walks to their own beat.

MEGAGONG Track Listing:

1. Entr’acte
2. Never Crossed My Mind
3. Shadow of Doubt
4. The Future is a Choice
5. The Perilous Rise
6. Annihilator
7. Spiral Dance of Imminent Doom
8. MEGAGONG
9. DOOM GONG III

Run Time: 44:43
Release Date: August 26, 2025
Record Label: Independent