Intergalactic travelers? Check! Robotic voices? Monty Python-sque with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in fold? Check! Nods to Devo? Check! A mind-bending spacecraft preparing us to go on this mind-bending journey? Check, check, and quadruple check! A psychedelic, sci-fi freak-out is the perfect ingredient that we need from a band that has been described in the Limelight article of issue 157 from PROG Magazine by Dom Lawson, “Cardiacs-like electro-punk with mind expanding space-rock grandeur and the frantic textures of ‘90s rave”. And “The first predominantly non-human band to appear in Prog”. That band is Henge.
Since their formation in 2015 in their hometown in Manchester, Henge are a band that really aren’t just prog-rock, but a band that really get down to business with a psychedelic score to the ‘60s Italian films of Mario Bava’s Danger: Diabolik, alternate soundtracks to the Bob Clampett-era of the Bugs Bunny cartoons during the 1940s, and yes, their nod to the late, great Tim Smith that comes to mind. Their fourth album Journey to Voltus B is like a ticking time-bomb ready to explode at any second with mind-blowing results!
The band considers Zpor on vocals and guitar, Nom on drums, Goo on Bass, and Grok on keyboards. When hearing a title like Journey to Voltus B, you think of episodes to the original Star Trek series, the Tom Baker-era of Doctor Who, or Leiji Matsumoto’s anime classic; Galaxy Express 999. Henge have delivered the sonic sounds with a twist of surrealism in which they unleashed to the public.
I had no idea what to make of it when I was listening to it after reading about them in PROG Magazine. But Henge are their own true sound when it comes to time traveling, telling their story, they are the band to definitely watch out for. The story of the album takes place aboard on Henge’s spaceship as they blast off from Earth, heading across our solar systems, making the jump to light-speed, traveling through space and time and arriving on the planet, Voltus B.
And we ain’t talking Star Wars folks, we’re talking about a cosmic voyage that’s beyond the infinite worlds that is waiting for us. You get the trance motif, electro-beats, swirling whirlpools of terror, double grooves, insane guitar work Zpor handles, its everything on their debut. Again, not only this is the band to watch out for, but I hope to hear more from them in the weeks, months, and years to come. A great way to kick 2025 off into the outer limits!
