Release Date: July 05th 2024. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: CD/DD
Distant Lands: Tracklisting
1.Aulsuk 07:29
2.Enough 03:17
3.Why 03:38
4.Outcast 03:52
5.So Beautiful 03:40
6.Demons 06:16
7.The Sound of a Universe Collapsing Under the Unstoppable Power of Our Overwelmingly Catastrophic Big Muff 03:03
Members
Rezna - Guitar, Voices
GiBi - Bass, Voices
Sgravone - Drums, Samples, Voices
Review
Distant Lands is the debut EP from Alternative/Doom/Stoner Rockers Gorgia. This is quite a raw sounding record with Gorgia having a soulful and very meaningful experimental quality to their music. The EP is full of Drone and Psychedelic gloomy beats with the vocals matching that creative flair.
Gorgia is the type of band who don’t follow the rules but who actually make their own as they go along creating their own style of music. The music is fuelled by various levels of Psychedelic Mysticism with Sludge Rock guitars that also have a down-tuned FUZZ Rock energy to them. The vocals can only be described as Droned Chants which you’ll experience within the hypnotic opening track Aulsuk.
Second track Enough is a different beast compared to Aulsuk with Gorgia employing a more destructive Punk Rock attitude whilst still channelling Drone/Doom based energy. The added use of quotes from different films such as NETWORK and SOYLENT GREEN only adds to the crazed madness that Gorgia are projecting to their music. The instrumental sounds are quite fast-paced with a more despairing STONER rhythm starting to emerge on the later stages of the track.
Third track Why continues with the Punk Rock/Doom Rock appetite of the previous track ENOUGH. It’s more of stripped back and no frills approach with the song perhaps even being the most straight-forward or conventional track musically speaking of course. The vocals once again are all over the place but in a good way. Gorgia demonstrates they’re a band that are very hard to categorise which gives them a more outlandish quality to them.
The rest of the EP allows Gorgia to try their hand at straight up Sludge/Stoner Metal on tracks such as Outcast, So Beautiful and Demons with these tracks being some of the best tracks on the whole EP. The mood is wholly unconventional, aggressive and undeniably LOUD in places but Gorgia always continues to impress to sound so downright ORIGINAL.
Distant Lands is by no means a perfect record but it shows that Gorgia are trying something different here with truly inspired results and it can be downright demonic fun especially towards the later stages of the record.
I would say with a couple more releases under their belt, Gorgia could become one of the more interesting and vastly original Doom/Stoner Metal bands to emerge from the Italian underground Heavy Rock scene in quite some time.
Excellent and Highly Recommended.
Words by Steve Howe
Links
