Godzilla Takes New York - Godzilla Takes New York

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GODZILLA TAKES NEW YORK are a metalcore act coming from Auckland, New Zealand. They have been rocking their heavy riffs since 2016 and this is their debut album and one I have been looking forward to giving a listen to for awhile now. With a unique band name like GODZILLA TAKES NEW YORK of course your going to want to hear what these guys are all about.

The album kicks things off with "The Lost Ark." It opens with a sound of rain that straight away gives you a bit of a dark imagery in your mind, especially when its followed by a small section of strings playing over it. Then the band stampedes in with their low-tuned guitar riffs and thundering rhythm section backing them up. It’s a very strong album opener and is also accompanied by a killer guitar solo from lead guitarist Grady Gottler.

Next up is "Amity Island." The lyrical theme from this song is about the movie JAWS (a personal favorite of mine). Its filled with heavy riffing and has programming that adds a sense of horror to the track. This one is definitely a favorite track on the album. Next up is "Hunter/Killer" this song is chaos music sounding a little like FEAR FACTORY. I may be wrong but I get the impression this songs lyrical theme is about THE PREDITOR. Its definitely another great track on this album.

"I, Demogorgon" is totally about the hit show STRANGER THINGS and the music gives off a full horror vibe and its programming gives off a clarity to the chaos. It also features two really heavy breakdown sections half way through and towards the end of the song. "The River" is up next which starts off with a very clean and melodic intro which then jumps into what can only be described as epic riffing. It’s a bit of a rare occurrence where we hear some clean vocals from JOSH PINHO which,along with the rest of the band, can easily be compared to the HOWARD JONES era of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE. The programming adds a bit of an uplifting feel to it as well.

The final song here is "Imhotep" Right from the get go the song gives you full on pounding drums and you can tell that GODZILLA TAKES NEW YORK plan on going out with a bang on this one. A heavy groove that makes you want to bang your head with a sound of almost impending doom with an outro that gives you an image of dust rising after a disaster.

First thing I can say is the band totally deserve points for their awesome band name. but the music here is also really cool too. Vocally I’m really reminded of EX_KILLSWITCH ENGAGE singer Howard Jones and the rest of the band give off a bit of a LAMB OF GOD vibe with their solid rhythm section and groove based riffs. Through out the album there is a very good use of samples from movie quotes to accompany the lyrical content which seems to be based off of famous movies. Some very interesting song arrangements here to keep the listener on their toes. The album is kind of short with its track list and I must say it definitely left me wanting more from these guys.

Songwriting: 9
Musicianship: 9
Memorability: 9
Production: 10