If June 17 2022 isn’t forever the greatest day in UK post-metal history then something exceptional has replaced it. Along with the stunning second album from Hundred Year Old Man, Manchester’s Gozer emerged from the shadow of Archelon with An Endless Static. This album comes at post-metal from a different angle to its UK counterparts and shows the range available to the genre. An Endless Static is full of atmosphere, space and a density that when given time becomes consuming and oppressive yet makes for a glorious listen for fans of the genre.
It is only when typing such things that I realise how much of a goth I am – this is a bleak album but in that darkness there are moments where the warm atmosphere feels comforting, and opener ‘Into The Grey’ certainly seems relaxing once the rest of the album has passed. Whilst it flickers in the slower darker light of Neurosis it holds its own power, in a similar fashion ‘A Fading Light’ burns slow and unlike its name ends on an upward trajectory. Amongst these tracks there is a gloomy crawling aspect to the music as the bass rumbles while the guitar’s glacial strums are interjected by deep but clear vocals, at moments they unite in crescendo or sink back to leave the sound of every inch of drum kit getting appropriate attention.
The other post-metal touching points appear in ‘Augur’ and ‘Desiderium’ with very slight Amenra guitar stylings and tonality. Never does Gozer lean heavily on their peers and so the comparisons are only fleeting notes to allow for comparison here. ‘Desiderium’ is one of my favourite songs this year and the devastating guest vocal performance by Simon Mason of Torpor gives a tremendous alteration to the deeper vocal sounds elsewhere on the album. The track does everything I love, explodes, falls, builds and changes direction and drops some delicious viola in its climax.
With the five tracks encompassing 47 minutes this shows the real might of post-metal, it is heavy without ever having to flex and its power is delivered with a relaxing ease. This is superbly well written and perfectly executed music which is undoubtedly some of the finest in the scene right now.
