Gozu: The Fury Of A Patient Man

Stoner fuzz-rockers keep the inebriated on their toes

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Small Stone Records have a knack for finding the hidden treasures of desert rock. Hailing from Boston, Gozu are another fuzzy-toned fungus to add to their collection of tasty morsels.

Tracks entitled Salty Thumb and Irish Dart Fight whet the whistle for their stripped down, stoner aesthetic in all its garage floor-trembling glory, taking the likes of QOSTA and melding it with grunge melodies and beefy, palm-muted riffs. At times this album sounds derivative, but the subtle switches in tempo keep it fresh. When those melodies kick in, like Traci Lords in the minor key, or the undulating Bald Bull, they reveal the vital moments that make this album so ear-catching.

Disco Related Injury is pure Californian motorcycle club fodder that encourages stoner’s synaesthesia – you hear desert rock, you see an expanse of dusty highway. But the icing on their cake is the 23-minute sludgehammer of The Ceaseless Thunder Of Surf – a sluggish, psychedelic soundscape imbibing the soul of Neurosis and ending with a hearty WTF?

Holly Wright
Holly Wright

With over 10 years’ experience writing for Metal Hammer and Prog, Holly has reviewed and interviewed a wealth of progressively-inclined noise mongers from around the world. A fearless voyager to the far sides of metal Holly loves nothing more than to check out London’s gig scene, from power to folk and a lot in between. When she’s not rocking out Holly enjoys being a mum to her daughter Violet and working as a high-flying marketer in the Big Smoke.