ALBUM REVIEW: An Endless Static – Gozer
Back in 2020, UK post-metallers ARCHELON called it a day. They’d made a decent enough name for themselves during their relatively short career, but amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic the members felt it was time for a change. That change produced GOZER – a sonically like-minded trio birthed entirely from the cocoon of their previous band. An Endless Static is their debut full-length, and it releases this Friday via the UK’s ever-dependable Trepanation Recordings. It would be easy enough to use a ‘phoenix from the ashes’ metaphor here, but to be honest this record is far too bleak for such a hopeful comparison.
Of course, that isn’t to say An Endless Static isn’t a triumph – it absolutely is. It’s just that the weight of the themes and music on offer here is often utterly staggering. Comparisons to NEUROSIS abound – as they often do for post-metal – but they really aren’t made lightly here. There’s just something so apocalyptic about this record, with the band drawing on their own mental struggles as well as frustrations at the wider state of the world in a search for catharsis amid a smouldering landscape of noise, sludge, doom and gloom. So far, so post-metal.
As you would expect, everything runs pretty long on An Endless Static. Five songs, each stretching to around the eight to ten-minute mark, this is a patient, dynamic record. GOZER rarely abandon an idea all that quickly, the effect typically one of powerful hypnotism rather than over-repetition or boredom. Opener Into The Grey takes some real time to build for example, almost like a more tribal version of THE CURE at their very darkest, but with visceral harsh vocals added for good measure. The release comes around the four-minute mark – the first of many towering eruptions which appear across the record to follow.
Another compelling feature of An Endless Static lies in the band’s ability to deliver something resembling vocal hooks. On Into The Grey, it’s a repeated bellowed refrain of “The taste of ash on my tongue”; on second track Augur, it’s “Lights out, the sun is gone”. Miserable stuff for sure, but crucially very hard to shake. The vocals – credited to all three members of GOZER – remain a stand out throughout; their fury is palpable, again often drawing particular comparisons to the dual (although in this case triple) attack of Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly of NEUROSIS. The only real exception is fourth track Desiderium, which features guest vocals from Simon Mason of fellow UK post-metallers TORPOR. Mason’s screams are far more hawkish, adding arguably even more pain to an already anguished record.
There are a couple of other guest contributors on An Endless Static too. Richard Spencer of BA’AL plays viola on both Augur and Desiderium, and embellishes them both brilliantly. He adds just a little extra element to GOZER’s already imposing sound, bringing a haunting, almost Eastern edge to the former, and shining even more in the relative sonic space afforded to him in the latter. Meanwhile, Tom Wright of HUNDRED YEAR OLD MAN contributes French horn and synth to lead single Fading Light. This one takes on an almost dystopian quality – a bit like those cold Blade Runner-isms heard so brilliantly on CULT OF LUNA’s Vertikal, for example.
With all this held together by the wonderful mixing and mastering of Joe Clayton and Magnus Lindberg respectively, An Endless Static feels nothing short of gigantic. ARCHELON may be no more, but few could really complain with GOZER left to stand in their wake. A lot of bands can play around with post-metal’s usual loud-quiet dynamics, but it takes real craft and skill to pull this off in a way that doesn’t just feel like a tick box exercise. Fortunately, An Endless Static absolutely nails it. Staggeringly heavy, decidedly unhurried, and often utterly entrancing – could we ask for anything more?
Rating: 8/10
An Endless Static is set for release on June 17th via Trepanation Recordings.
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