Stoner rock and metal are crowded genres these days but there’s always room for a band that knows when to get back to basics and just rock. Enter scene veteransGozu, who are just days away from releasing their sixth album, aptly titledGozu VI, on Friday (May 15). Coming on Metal Blade subsidiary Blacklight Media,Gozu VIhas a healthy mix of groovy rock and slowed-down psychedelia.
When the album was announced, frontman and guitarist Marc Gaffney explained that he was more focused on songwriting than any other point in the band’s two-decade career.
“I was pretty roughed up emotionally while writing,” he said. “I played guitar more in the past two years than ever before. I would work, go to the gym, come home, eat and then play guitar until I went to bed.”
Gaffney and co-guitarist Doug Sherman are on fire throughoutGozu VI—fifth track “Banacek” features some upbeat riffing that dips in and out of a trippy solos and doomed-out chugs with natural smoothness, while “Corner Lariat” takes a page from Pallbearer’s progressive doom playbook. Later, on “They Did Know Karate,” Gozu demonstrate their ability to build a song into a big hook and swirling guitars.
Whether you like doom, sludge, stoner rock or just wish Mastodon still had riffs like they did onLeviathan, there’s a lot to dig on the Boston quartet’s sixth album. Gozu VIis out on Friday, but you can check out a couple songs now.