The debut full-length from Greek band Automaton is weighty, sludgy, coffin-lid-slamming Doom perfection.
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Neolith is band that has existed since 199. They play Death Doom with many Prog and psychedelic elements. Technical, sharp and quite twisted the sound is...
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Gorilla Monsoon : Firegod - Feeding The Beast
Gorilla Monsoon's latest full-length arrives nearly 20 years too late to have any relevance. |
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| Ever plugged a guitar in and starting jamming? Something appears that sounds pretty cool, and you keep it going before finally imagining those drums kicking in when the band next get together - nice one. Suddenly though, seemingly out of nowhere, you've got Pepper Keenan ringing in your ears and you realise rather forlornly that you've been playing something very close to 'Albatross' by COC. If only... You won't have been the first to quite innocently and subliminally conjure up other peoples riffs and you certainly won't be the last. Gorilla Monsoon definitely have, and they've put most of those jams on this record.
Opening with an Eyehategod riff, Gorilla Monsoon quickly roll out some odd traditional-sounding twin leads before going back to the nineties again for most of the album. Which, in certain cases, would be no bad thing. In this instance though, it isn't. If this album had come out in 1998 then a good percentage of Kerrang! readers would probably have lapped it all the way up to the top of their oversized trousers. Sadly, for Gorilla Monsoon, the crossover templates adhered to back then did not have longevity written into their game plan. There was good reason for that. There's only so many albums you can make rehashing the same bastardized 'Black Album'/Grunge hybrid. This unfortunately, and quite astonishingly, is another one. Sure, it's a decent enough shade of heavy in places, and some of it might even go down reasonably well in a live setting after a skinful. You can hear the classic influences too, occasionally, in the same way you could hear them in Soundgarden or Cathedral. There's a healthy, competent musicality about it with a decent enough production, and every so often you wonder if things are about to push through the glass ceiling of mediocrity into something approaching a half decent tune. Alas, no dice, (although the title track almost manages it), and apart from the odd moment worthy of some old school headbanging the songs pretty much blend together into an already very well ploughed furrow of post-Grunge metal. Albeit a slightly heavier version. Someone in Gorilla Monsoon starts their press for this album by exclaiming "I don't give a f***..." which is truly ironic really. Song titles along the lines of 'Shotgun Justice', 'Glory Days' and 'The Law of the Riff' (please...) should give enough of the game away, and the frontman openly goes by the name of Jack Sabbath. Oh come on...! If your usual Doomonic fare is along the lines of Worship, Mournful Congregation or Thergothon then please just move right along. Similarly, if you're newly arrived in the Chapel of Doom then you should do likewise and seek out all the Nola bands from back in the day, or play some earlyish Crowbar (or even their most recent) back to back with The Gates of Slumber and Grand Magus. Actually, just put Acid Bath's 'When the Kite String Pops' on and be done with it. I'm going to. Click HERE to discuss this review on the doom-metal forum. |
| Tracklist : 1. Goatlord 2. March Of The Hellrock Inc. 3. Hammerdown 4. P.O.R.N. 5. Bastard Business 6. Law Of The Riff 7. Call Of Gaia 8. Shotgun Justice 9. Firegod 10. Glory Days Duration : Approx. 60 minutes Visit the Gorilla Monsoon bandpage. |
