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Gozu - Locust Season
Small Stone Records
Release date: Summer 2010
I remember the first time I heard Gozu, as my reaction to them wasn't too far removed from how Queens of the Stone Age's masterful debut hit me. That's not too surprising a reaction, given that a fair amount of Gozu's demo borrowed riffs from Queens of the Stone Age. What was a bit of a shock was how well they did so, and how that skill managed to make that six song demo something more than just the byproduct of another hard working yet creatively struggling band.
Case in point – "Meth Cowboy," the lead track on both that demo and on the Boston band's Small Stone Records debut. You've heard most of the song before, in the guise of "Regular John," but with some lead guitar embellishments, superior vocals (throughout Locust Season's nine tracks, Marc Gaffney hollers, croons, roars, and generally proves that having a singer that can sing is an awful swell idea), and an outro that takes an aggressive, pummeling turn, "Meth Cowboy" muscles up enough of an identity to not only step out from the shadow of "Regular John" but also sets a consistent tone for the rest of Locust Season.
Gozu's strength lies in its willingness to throw a curveball or two. The four-piece - along with Gaffney, there's Doug Sherman on guitar, Jay Canava on bass, and Wargasm's Barry Spillberg on drums – will never be mistaken for something other than a hard rock band, but they deftly prove there's more than one way of writing a catchy tune. Locust Season offers up straightforward bruisers like "Mr. Riddle" (probably my favorite of the lot, but by a negligible margin) and live favorite "Rise Up", sunny stoner rockers like "Regal Beagle," "Kam Fong as Chin Ho," and "Jamaican Luau," and head n chest thumpers like "Jan-Michael Vincent." This last one starts off as a chug-a-lug riff rock song, takes a quick detour into organ-centric quirk-pop, and then gets all Helmet-y as it thunders to a close. On paper it looks like the band's trying to play connect-the-dots with three different books but the reality is that it's another fantastic song. That AmRep sensibility comes into play again with "Meat Charger," an aptly named and punishing tune.
Their "a little bit of this, a little bit of that" flavoring keeps Locust Season moving forward, straight until the last note of the dirge-ish "Alone" fades out – but before the little girl singing "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" starts up. That's the one bit of cleverness that rings false on an otherwise stellar debut. Given that it's a bonus lark, it's not something I'll hold against them. As far as I'm concerned, this is a hard working band with creativity to spare. Recommended.
- John Pegoraro
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I'm never gonna work another day in my life
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