Last night I was at a place called The Island which is a huge arts complex based in what used to be the central police station just on the edge of the cities thriving centre. Street artist Sepra was having an exhibition launch party, displaying a lot of his very talented visual street art styling, kind of psychedelic cartoon imagery.

So to celebrate he decided to throw a gig down in the basement of the old Police cells. This was the first time I had ever been to a gig in the police cells or in fact been in any cells my entire life, because I have been an entire goody goody my life. as you can imagine it was a pretty cold dank place filled with the smell of musk and urine. The walls certainly looked like they had stories to tell as they were full of grime. It felt like being in a huge bunker.

Headlining the show were local Stoner Doom legends Gonga, who have to go down along with the likes of The Heads as being one of the greatest rock bands this city has ever produced. Right the way through out Gonga’s existence they have delivered solidly in big thick riffs that just seem to resonate through the body. watching Gonga is like the ultimate lesson in how to do heavy with a real thick density, swampy bass lines fist clenching guitars and chest pounding drums bouncing off the walls.

Gonga do have what some may call a very classic sound and style that with their original line-up saw them be drawn comparisons to the likes of Clutch and indeed Sabbath. But with an ever changing line-up of vocalists Gonga have found themselves settling for their instrumental lien-up. With the Brothers Tom and George Elgie providing the bands beating heart. Last night they provided some truly mesmeric moments of pure beauty and brilliance, watching George rip riff after riff is nothing short of thrilling. Its easily comparable to being stuck on a continuous thrill ride with slow breakdowns and absolutely eye watering bass that just smacked around the chops.

every way possible it was heavy, heavy in the way that most so called metals bands seem to lack delivering sharp kicks, that is perfectly rounded up in Miasma. What can I say Gonga Rule!