Unending Ascending

Unending Ascending is the third studio installment from the Gong lineup of Kavus Torabi, Fabio Golfetti, Ian East, Dave Sturt, and Cheb Nettles, again released by Kscope and produced by Frank Byng. The one-two punch of “Tiny Galaxies” and “My Guitar Is A Spaceship” kick off the album with equal parts of pop sensibility and heavy riff. If the previous studio album Universe Also Collapses (mostly) went for deep space, long-form psychedelia, this album is mercilessly executed with equal parts mettle and metal: fierce riffing songs with stop-on-a-dime breaks, and enough math in the rhythms to have you counting in nines. And just when things really start to jump, “Ship of Ishtar” pulls into the dock and turns the music sideways. Longish and Gong-ish, it's an atmospheric stew of glissando, flute, drone, and chant that floats in that space between dream worlds. The band emerges with the brightly crafted pop-prog of “O, Arcturus,” before sinking into another deep riff and fade. “All Clocks Reset” offers more of the band’s incredible interplay. The Nettles-Sturt rhythm section is a driving constant, propelling forward with break-neck speed and precision. The album’s capstone, “Choose Your Goddess,” continues the sonic onslaught. Reverently bowing into a familiar old school Gong riff, it holds back ever-so-slightly before erupting into the closest Gong has ever come to heavy metal! East’s flowery horns offer a psychedelic tinge while the guitars of Torabi and Golfetti chunk away into brick-walled compression. The band is precise, electric, melodic but above all immediate - there's no pussyfooting here! The final two tracks, “Lunar Invocation” and “Asleep Do We Lay,” slowly wind the album down to zero like a lullaby: the former’s dense gravity of feedback and gliss draws it along, while the latter pulses under a fitting rhythm with some wonderfully classic 70s Gong affectations, coalescing to the album's conclusion and, perhaps, reminding us that this is still Gong after all. With Unending Ascending, Gong offers another chapter of the ongoing evolution of something that was started long ago and far away. It’s got enough of the things we love about that Gong, and everything we love about this Gong - uncompromising, inventive, expertly executed psychedelic music - this time with a twist of pop and a dose of heavy rock. More Love from the Planet Gong.