Photo credit: Matt Darcy
Boston stoner/fuzz rock outfit, Gozu, will digitally release their new full-length, Gozu VI, on May 15th, through Blacklight Media/Metal Blade Records. In advance, Gozu present their first single, “Banacek,” with an official video. Watch it below and read more from the band.
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New York City’s Netherlands may have yet to come across the average metalhead’s dashboard but with the release of their third fuzzed out LP (making their début on Prosthetic Records), they won’t be foreign for much longer. Founder and multi-instrumentalist, Timo Ellis, already has an impressive repertoire with having created and produced music for over 2 decades, releasing work under his own name as well as working with artists like The Melvins and Ween. But now, with the help of Zach Eichenhorn (drums) and Ava Farver (synth bass) since 2010, he’s channeling his heavier side…and it sounds oddly familiar. Not the ‘I’ve heard it before’ familiar but the ‘I totally know what your influences are’ familiar. It’s without a doubt enough to call your ears to attention.
This 9-track journey through distorted astronomy and psychedelia clocks in at a bittersweet 28 minutes. And I guarantee that you’ll feel the emptiness of a trip cut too short. From the Black Sabbath-y falsetto vocals combined with the foundationally Sleep-like wall of guitar riffage and just enough Ty Segall-approved fuzz to tickle one’s fancy, the track ‘Elephuck’ is enough to generate genuine excitement. Especially with the attractively dark lyrical theme of a dying sense of self as a result of religious mind control. What’s there not to like? The fellow slow-tempoed sludgey track ‘Bottom of the Ocean’ is the definite sweet spot of the record for the vocal variety alone. From the preachy chanting to the layered angelic whispers of world disasters and oncoming death (all over top of the gloomiest guitar riff of Audubon), Netherlands has more than honed in on a signature style.
Timo’s talent for intelligently hypnotizing guitar riffs and intriguing vocal organization is apparent in the fact that there is something attractive about each track on the record. Even the weakest track (and regrettably the opening track which is surely to throw some patrons off the scent) ‘L.M.M’ doesn’t get interesting until past the 1-minute mark when chaos and fuzz ensue to better fit Timo’s airy vocals.
Overall, Audubon is a solid release. Netherlands would surely benefit though in moving towards lengthier progressions to develop their tracks from being simply ‘a ride around the block’ to a fully dark and psychedelic experience.
7.5/10
EBONIE BUTLER
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Imagine, if you will, the offspring that would be conceived by a three-way between A Perfect Circle, Spiritual Beggars and Mastodon. That’s pretty much what we have here, and it’s wonderful.
Living Ghosts (Fuzzorama) is the second LP from Vancouver cab torturers We Hunt Buffalo. They bill themselves as exponents of “Dirty, Grimy, Fuzz Rock” and they ain’t lyin’, brother. Well not about the fuzz, anyway. Whilst the eponymous first album ticked all three boxes, Living Ghosts has had a lot of the dirt polished off, and sounds tremendously better for it. With fatter bass and some actual use of the mid sliders, the upgrade from self-production to a full studio producer (Jesse Gander of Rain City Recorders) is telling. It has transformed this band from local battle of the bands runners-up into a serious prospect for tours with the likes of Baroness, The Sword, Kvelertak or even the mighty Mastodon.
The first track ‘Ragnarok’ is a beautiful, expansive extended intro for the majestic prog of ‘Back To The River’, ‘Prairie Oyster’ is a sludgey fuzzfest with huge echoey vocals while ‘Hold On’ backs off the fuzz for a return to the prog vibe featuring a strident guitar line and choral vocals that are simply captivating.
‘Comatose’ features a riff that’s inexplicably (and pleasingly) reminiscent of Big Country. ‘Fear’ is a slow stoner classic and ‘The Barrens’ gives us more country vibe, opening out into what’s clearly their stoner/prog comfort zone. ‘Looking Glass’ is a very on-trend 60’s homage (complete with Hammond organ) that leads us to the last track of the album: ‘Walk Again’ – an introspective piece of shoegazing that, given the strength and context of what’s gone before manages the small miracle of being engaging and fitting rather than tedious.
A theme running through this album is familiarity – it gives the feeling even on first play-through that you’ve rediscovered an old favourite. Sombre yet uplifting, distorted yet clear, it delivers an almost transcendent experience that very few bands can manage.
If you’re a Canuck, you’re in luck – these guys are stomping the hell out of the home grounds. I hope those of us in the rest of the world are lucky enough to see them on tour some time soon.
8.5/10
PHILIP PAGE