(((O))) : Godzilla Black – The Great Terror

Given the genre-hopping restlessness that characterises much of The Great Terror, and given that this experimental, impatient noisenik approach is relatively uncommon in the British experimental music scene, it’s a wonder that more people haven’t picked up on Godzilla Black. Featuring former members of Astrohenge and Hawk Eyes, two of the UK’s foremost riff merchants, and guest appearances from Melvins drummer Dale Crover and producer Toshi Kasai, you could be forgiven for thinking this was going to end up in quirky alt-metal territory, but you’d be wrong.

Instead Godzilla Black have opted for a far more esoteric approach than one dominated solely by fuzzed-out downtuned guitars. This is the sort of free-form rock music that latter day Boredoms excelled at, if lacking that band’s utter incomparability of course. There’s a bit of everything from jazz inflected noise rock (‘One Out, One In’) to funk guitar tinged dark ambient balladry (‘Murder on the Beach’). Quite remarkably the mix works rather well, making Godzilla Black one of the few bands around capable of pulling off such a collation of styles so well.

Perhaps it’s down to the atmospherics of the record, which tread the noir line so well, that The Great Terror never really feels confused despite the divergent approaches taken by the band across different tracks. The whole forty-five minute album conjures up a feeling not that unlike being followed down a poorly lit alleyway late at night, and it’s all the more potent because Godzilla Black never explode into full-on noise, instead shying away at the last moment. Acoustic guitars come and go, alongside haunting ambient textures, female vocals courtesy of Suki Osman and the odd blast of saxophone but it never builds up into anything genuinely heavy. That would be far too obvious.

John Mackenzie’s vocals are likely to get plenty of the attention on early listens, if only because at points you would swear that Cedric Bixler-Zavala has actually got a new band without telling anyone. His resemblance to the At the Drive-In/Mars Volta lead vocalist is uncanny at points, and in fact distracting on occasion, but as the record develops Mackenzie alternates his tone enough to dissuade accusations of copy-cat stylings. It should also be noted that the vocals are pretty much where the similarities to The Mars Volta end. With the possible exception of ‘Screaming Black and Blue’ nothing approaches that band’s insane levels of business, let alone their crisper production.

No, rather than applying their diverse approach to a shiny progressive sphere Godzilla Black are quite happy moonlighting at the gloomiest end of experimental noise rock. For, despite the slight theatrics, Godzilla Black largely remain a rock band; a rock band that’s here to devour you whole, but without the courtesy to wait until you are actually looking.