Garganjua - Toward the Sun

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GARGANJUA (2013) spawns from in and around or maybe somewhere near Bournemouth (that’s in a country called England, fool), and these boys play epic melodic doom, says them. GARGANJUA list their completed classes in Doom-Metal Buggery 101 as PALLBEARER, YOB, AHAB, WARNING, USNEA, GUÍA LUZ NEGRA, CONJURER, POSEIDON, GREENHORN, IRON MONKEY, ELECTRIC WIZARD, CATHEDRAL and the mighty BLACK SABBATH. Bloody hell I hear all this in various degrees, but these lads have taken a step into the TOOL, ISIS and BULL ELEPHANT zone of smoke-a-delicky post modern rawk-metal and done an incredible job with this release. GARGANJUA played the heavy music metal festival Bloodstock in 2016 and ye verily, they mention this as a turning point for the band and may be a story in itself … crikey, I like the twist a few years perspective has done on their art. Let’s get crack-a-lackin’, righto?

‘TOWARD THE SUN’ opens with “Transcending” delivering a spoken word dalliance that *holy freaking cow* does not sound like yet another recorded unsound artistic turd directly mugging somebody else’s sound bite. Many camels come to you GARGANJUA for this blessing. Note to all other bands: someone else’s meaningful and heartfelt-historical recorded sound bite overlayed on your own artistic statements are shite and lend no meaning, real or otherwise to your music release. Can one dance or bang thy head to Boris Johnson babblety-gook – like it effin matters? Grumpy Welshman rant over.
At the 4:15 mark, “The New Sun” track number 2 gets low, both with Scott’s vocals and the heartbeat rhythm. “Transcendence” track numero 4 has a dani bandolier pardoned spoken word bite buried in the first half of this epic song and it is bloody epic mates, with Scott and double zed Gazz (not to be confused with single zed Gaz the drummer) throwing down mightily the sledge-sledgehammer melodic guitar lines. I am hearing PINK FLOYD love everywhere here.  Don’t listen to to  GARGANJUA expecting each heavy tome to rip your sac off leaving you to contemplate your testes like NEUROSIS … these cats are all about the monochrome doom shades of gray. “Light Bearer” does me the same.

Track #6 “Controlling Waves” folds back into refrains that highlight Scott’s delicious voice refracting the DOOM and ARD RAWK prismatic musical spectres deftly interlaced with sneaking banger guitar riffs that ooze.. yea I said ooze… in and out geezing the geezootiful goo of post rawk ‘ardness….This is my favorite tune and at 8:10 could go on for another 8 minutes.

Fuck me. I am gobshocked at what I am hearing coming out of old Blighty… but I shouldn’t be. Like me mate the ex-London bobby told me when I posited that the British have the english arts firmly under hand, his blithe response was - “Of course”, spoken like they won the bleedin’ english language or somethin’…  and after 6 pints of Old Speckled Hen, the gimlet eye from my beautiful russian roomie and twice as many listens to TOWARD THE SUN , I can abide.

Songwriting: 9
Musicianship: 9
Memorability: 9
Production: 9