REVIEW: Prong - Songs from the Black Hole

Rock combo Prong, led by vocalist and guitarist Tommy Victor, has been thrashing for nearly 30 years. Victor remains the founder and original member while a slew of musicians have rotated in and out of the group. Jason Christopher (bass) and Art Cruz (drums) rounds out the current trio. The pared down thump of guitars, bass, and drums are not lost on the massive sound the band creates. Their newest release, the covers album Songs from the Black Hole, gathers the band’s varied musical loves into a cohesive Prong-fused collection. Prong birthed as a hardcore unit in the mid-80’s and quickly evolved into thrash while dabbling in industrial and metal. The covers on this recording vary from punk and goth rockers, and a nod to Neil Young. The songs receiving the Prong treatment are “Doomsday” (Discharge), “Vision Thing” (Sisters of Mercy), “Goofy’s Concern” (Butthole Surfers), “Kids of the Black Hole” (Adolescents), “The Bars” (Black Flag), “Seeing Red” (Killing Joke), “Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely “ (Hüsker Dü), “Give Me The Cure” (Fugazi), and “Banned In D.C.” (Bad Brains). They mellow things out a bit closing the album with Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer.”

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