Review Summary: A stoner's trip through the desert.
One of Gozu's major strengths is their consistency throughout the years. The Boston quartet arrived in 2008 with their promising eponymous EP, before blazing their way through with two impressive studio albums
Locust Season and
Fury of a Patient Man. Now with
Revival, not only have they stretched their incredible run of consistency, but they've dished out their best album yet - a dark, hypnotic and groovy mess of stoner rock goodness, topped off with a whole lot of swagger.
Gozu's sound is defined by sludgy, grating riffs, monstrous hooks, dynamic changes in tempo and extrapolated jam sessions that include incredible guitar solos. But one of the most significant qualities of the record's is vocalist Marc Gaffney's incredible singing. Whilst delivering chic guitar solos, he gives an excellent vocal performance, shifting between ghostly falsetto, screams and croons; his voice sounding like a cross between an angsty Chris Cornell and an even cooler Josh Homme. His a capella in standout track
By Mennen especially justifies this. Elsewhere, each instrument gets a chance to shine, especially the groovy bass, and muscular guitarwork. Opener
Nature Boy blazes along straight away with its frantic tempo and shifts between monstrous guitar riffs and frontman Gaffney's otherworldly voice. Elsewhere,
Bubble Time and
Big Casino keep things interesting. The former, an early highlight, features an excellent chorus, before shifting tempo quickly at the last minute for a cathartic climax. Meanwhile, the latter opens with a relatively basic structure, but its tasty riffs and chorus more than make up for it.
Perhaps the album's strongest highs are found in the epic tracks
Lorenzo Llamas and
Tin Chicken, both tracks that cross the seven-minute mark. The former is easily the best track on the album, chock full of impressive guitar riffs and the greatest solo on the album around the 4-minute mark; while the latter exchanges swagger and meaty riffs for a more psychedelic and ghastly approach, bringing to mind Queens of the Stone Age at their most intrepid. The track's inverse,
Dee Dee McCall, is the album's shortest track but arguably its most hard hitting, its instrumentation sounding like something from a Slipknot album with a super-fast tempo.
Oldie is a relatively simple song until it changes direction at the end with a beautiful, somber jam session. It's moments like these that provide the band with a unique dynamic sound; they allow the song to go wherever it wants, keeping the album fresh and creative.
Revival isn't a really apt title for the album, as the band never died. No, it shows them reaching for the stars with a brilliant, ambitious third LP that solidifies their position as one of the forerunners of the US stoner rock scene. As
Tin Chicken slowly fades out to end the record, you're brought back to your senses. You question what kind of a wacky experience you just returned from. But strangely, you don't mind, and play the record from the beginning once more. It's just that good.
Recommended Tracks:
Lorenzo Llamas
Bubble Time
By Mennen
