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Bang, boom, BONGINATOR! Madness reigns supreme on the sophomore full-length of the American death metal fanatics: "Retrodeath" marks the birth of a new sound, not just for the band but also for the genre. The weed-devouring youngsters have actually put a lot of work into their new songs. Well, if you call immersing yourself for months into '80s action and horror movies as well as playing loads of old video games... 'work'.
Then again, more days were spent researching and emulating the exact synths used in the '80s to create some of their favorite soundtracks. The result is a fresh and somewhat happily unhinged sonic monster that has been carefully bred by BONGINATOR selectively crossing traditional US death metal, synthwave, and 16-bit computer game sounds.
This comes hardly as a surprise as BONGINATOR are part of a new wave of young death metal aficionados that embrace the style's old school values but add a fresh approach. This might cause a heart attack with those who think that the genre became far too open-minded after 1986, but BONGINATOR are best described as the missing link between the good old days and death metal in the here and now.
When vocalist and guitarist Erik Thorstenn channelled his love for death metal and weed into the creation of BONGINATOR in 2021, it was not intended as a challenger to incumbents such as CANNABIS CORPSE and WEEDEATER. The band from the New England state of Massachusetts already had a clear vision to carve out their own musical claim.
The conceptual idea behind the crazy world of BONGINATOR appeared very much to revolve around a bunch of stoner kids taking on a horde of blood-thirsty aliens and then embarking on an intergalactic road trip to the darkest corners of the universe. To reach their goal, they weaponised chainsaw-riffing, a thunderous barrage of drums, and inhuman growls. BONGINATOR embarked on their crusade to reconquer the ears of headbangers around the globe with the debut EP "The 1986 Doink City Massacre" (2022) and their first full-length "The Intergalactic Gorebong of Deathpot" (2023).
Contrary to the image of friends of weed and death metal ending up as lazy couch potatoes, BONGINATOR quickly took to the roads and criss-crossed the United States in a converted yellow school bus to conquer every stage that would have them along their trip. They even set up their own festival, The New England Death Metal Fun Time Bonanza.
Despite a calendar filled with shows, BONGINATOR also found the time to create a new milestone in their fast-rising career. "Retrodeath" takes everything further to far out, gleefully stitches together something new, something old, something borrowed, and a lot of things bold, but somehow manages to make sense of what sounds insane. Check this one out, or miss out!
Band: Bonginator
Albumtitle: Retrodeath
Style: Death Metal
Release date: October 24, 2025
Label: Testimony
Review impact date: September 29, 2025
Line-up
Erik Thorstenn – guitar, vocals
Jack "Ingoff" Shanahan – bass
Joseph McNamara – drums
Ben Sonsire-Cummings – guitar
Guest musicians
Fiore Stravino (FULCI) – add. vocals on 'Intruder Organism'
Colin Richardson (IGNOMINIOUS) – add. vocals on 'Short Ass Bus'
Abel Abarca (BIG ASS TRUCK) – add. vocals on 'Short Ass Bus'
Vinny Castellano (BELUSHI SPEED BALL) – add. vocals on 'Pizza Time'
Tim Capello (from the movie "The Lost Boys" (1987)) – saxophone on 'Outro'
Recorded at The Record Co. in Boston, MA (USA)
Engineered by Erik Thorstenn & Sean McCormack
Mixed by Sean McCormack at Funeral Frog Media, Newburyport, MA, (US)
Mastered by Sean McCormack at Funeral Frog Media, Newburyport, MA, USA
Cover artwork by Dan Goldsworthy
Layout by Sean McCormack
Shop
https://spkr.store/collections/bonginator
Formats
"Retrodeath" is available as a marbled transparent yellow & red vinyl LP, as a recycled randomly coloured vinyl LP, as a Jewelcase CD, and on cassette tape.
Links
www.facebook.com/bonginatorMA
www.instagram.com/bonginator.ma
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