For both performer and listener music is a form of escape, a method of release, a lifeline. The grinding, stifling monotony of the rigid structures of capitalism can make us feel isolated and oppressed. An outlet is needed, a space where we can exist, where we can just be. Post metal trio Gozer have crafted one such place on An Endless Static. As the band themselves state “coming together and creating art and music offers a respite from the daily trials and tribulations, drowning it out with our own expression and the expenditure of creative energies”.
Five colossal, shifting tracks make up An Endless Static, with the emphasis firmly placed on creating absorbing, sonic textures and moving, dramatic soundscapes. Opener ‘Into The Grey’ pulls the listener in gently by the hand, as a slowly hypnotic drum beat is anchored by a driving bass line, augmented further by the subtle atmospheric guitar lines of guitarist Craig Paul. The vocals lean into a harsher nature, reminiscent of Cult Of Luna’s Johannes Persson at his most expressive. The band stray into darker territory on the brooding, cavernous ‘A Fading Light’ which recalls the more discordant elements of Neurosis, whilst the haunting and experimental crawl of ‘Wintercearig’ closes the album, shifting between moments of claustrophobic intensity and quieter moments of gloom.
With its drawn out songs and shifts in tone, An Endless Static is an album that relishes its own darkness and proves Gozer to be one of the most interesting and thoughtful bands residing under the sludge banner. An album born out of catharsis and necessity, An Endless Static is an album with the potential to exorcise and comfort those in similar times of darkness.
An Endless Static is out now via Trepanation Recordings and can be ordered here.
Words: Adam Pegg
