ALBUM REVIEW: Toward The Sun – Garganjua

Given the absolute wealth of creativity within heavy music, particularly in the UK, in today’s climate, to stand out from an increasingly overcrowded market is a difficult task indeed. Not only can you bare similarities to your fellow countrymen, for a band to truly make a splash, you better have some tricks up your sleeve. Enter GARGANJUA who look set to make waves with their third full-length effort, Toward The Sun.

Holy Roar Records have a stellar reputation in producing some of the finest crops to grace British metal in recent years. From CONJURER to ROLO TOMASSI, SVALBARD to record alumini EMPLOYED TO SERVE, the DIY label lie at the epicentre of creativity for heavy music. It’s a prestigious roster and GARGANJUA fit in comfortably to both their labelmates and the weight of expectation as one listen to Toward The Sun reveals a band bursting at the seems with creative brilliance.

Expanding on the promise shown with 2018’s Through The Void, Toward The Sun showcases post and progressive tendencies fusing with the colossal weight of doom metal to create a listening experience that will leave you breathless. Walking a tight rope between delicate lines of melody to passages of dense heaviness that could level a building, Toward The Sun is as complex as it is rich in substance. This is best evidenced on The New Sun which sees the band’s fusion of melodic-leaning riffs and soaring cleans, which benefits from a sparkling production job, collide head-on with monstrous doom-driven tones and relentless vocal roars that demonstrate the dualism within their soundscape.

There are moments across the record however whereby GARGANJUA lean more into heavier territory, showcasing the firepower within their arsenal. Mire is the musical equivalent of a collapsing neutron star as dense riffing and guttural snarls entice your attention through their sheer apocalyptic weight whilst Light Bearer boasts some of the best riffs on the record, as the hooks and grooves easily cement themselves into your mind, before subsiding into a gorgeous vocal passage that sounds akin to doom merchants PALLBEARER. When the band up the ante, the result is monstrous, showcasing that they are indeed a force to be reckoned with.

On the flip side, GARGANJUA lovingly embrace the melodic aspects to their sonic DNA and it is these blissful segments that make for some of the highlights on the record. Portraying as the yang to the heaviness that is the yin, the instrumental-leaning Transcendence features simply stunning guitar work that holds you in its spell whilst Controlling Waves takes this yin-yang approach in its stride as soaring vocal melodies counter the thick and oozing doom grooves of the guitars, before evolving into a passage of tranquillity that is so stunning, moving and downright uplifting, it will bring tears to your eyes. The quality on offer here is astonishing and showcases a band hitting their creative peak.

Toward The Sun sees GARGANJUA bloom into the band they were born to be. Emotionally evocative yet absolutely monolithic in heaviness, this is an album demonstrating a band owning their craft and the result is simply spectacular. This is a record that was built to be enjoyed in its entirety and it is phenomenal listening experience. Strap yourself in, it’s quite the journey.

Rating: 9/10

Toward The Sun is set for release on January 17th via Holy Roar Records.

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