Godhunter - City of Dust (Album Review)

Album Type : Full Length

Date Released : 18/2/2014

Label : The Compound / Battleground Records

City of Dust, album track listing :

1). Despite All

2). Rats In The Walls

3). Brushfires

4). Snake Oil Dealer

5). Shooting Down The Sun

6). Palace Of Thorn

7). City Of Dust

8). Plague Widow

Bio :

While brutalizing Tucson-based sludgecore quintet, GODHUNTER, has amassed a plethora of independent recordings since their late 2009 inception, including several split vinyl releases, and their 2011-released Wolves EP, City Of Dust marks the band’s first official LP. The band already bears an undeniable kinship to goliaths Noothgrush, Weedeater, Bongzilla and Sourvein, yet the sprawling LP shows the band exploring even more depth, with more sonically-destructive tones, more diverse, melodic song structures and even acoustic strings and gravelly, clean vocal segments atop the sun-baked bed of earthmoving roared vocals and gang chants. More than simply a collection of songs amassed for the purpose of releasing an album, City Of Dust presents a fully conceptual statement, lyrically delivering a political by-the-throat theme which unravels through the bitter finale. The album’s eight anthems engulf exactly fifty minutes of brand new material, recorded with trusted cohort Ryan Butler (Landmine Marathon, Unruh)at his Arcane Digital Studios (Exhumed, Misery Index), where GODHUNTER’s Wolves EP also came to fruition.

City Of Dust will be released cooperatively between the band’s own newly-founded Battleground Records and Earsplit’s also recently-formed label, The Compound. The first strike will see the album disbursed on CD digipak and digital download on February 18th, 2014, followed by a limited, deluxe 12” LP version shortly thereafter. The LP’s cover artwork was created by Tucson-based artist Rudy Flores, marking his return after handling the artwork for Wolves as well

The Band :

Dick Williamson | Bass

Jake Brazelton | Guitars

David Rodgers | Guitars, Vocals

Matthew Davis | Keyboards, Cello, Effects

Charlie Touseull | Vocals

Andy Kratzenberg | Drums

Review :

Well, it looks like it’s back to Tucson for this old warhorse, and back to a band I previously reviewed doing a 7” split with Anakim.  Hello again, Godhunter, and how are we today?  Still angry, sludgy, and riffy?  Fantastic to hear.  What?  Here’s your brand new full-length album to review?  It’s called ‘City of Dust’?  Well, aren’t you guys good to me. 

Carrying on from ‘Vulture’s Wake’ from the aforementioned split 7”, this album continues with the filth by being heavy, hard-hitting and wholly destructive.  Imagine yourself in a desert, tripping on acid and being chased by the cops.  It’s an intense, breathless experience; and listening to this band is exactly the same.  The first time I heard ‘Brushfires’ I sank back in my seat from its clubbing pressure, while at the same time marvelling at the gripping, precise riffery being hurled at me.  It feels like EyeHateGod if they were present at Woodstock in the sixties: jarring, heavy, a bad trip made sonic.  But you’ve bought the ticket, so you’re gonna take the ride.  It’s a ride worth taking, you can count on that. 

There’s such a crazy-cool mix of musical influences you can get from Godhunter, and that’s why I like them so much.  Take a pinch of Pantera, a slice of Sabbath, a nip of Neurosis and a crapload of Crowbar, mix well with weed and whiskey and simmer in your speakers.  There we have it: sound like a chalice from which you’d like to quaff?  There’s no better way to imbibe than grabbing ‘City of Dust’ and playing it at full volume.  In fact, play the title track first: it’s not only a blinding song, it highlights Godhunter’s ferocity and shows off Charlie Touseull’s manic barking vocals.  Plus this song is one of the chuggiest hunks of sludge you’re ever likely to hear this year. 

All eight tracks from ‘City of Dust’ stand tall and defiant as exemplars’ of the sludge and doom genre.  ‘Snake Oil Dealer’ is over seven minutes of raw, thick, oozing aural toxic waste, irradiating your ears with its potent horror.  Seriously, guitarists David Rodgers and Jake Brazelton and bassist Dick Williamson must coat their strings with molasses to get such a thick sound.  The surprise track on ‘City of Dust’ has to be ‘Shooting Down the Sun’, an acoustic beat poem of regret, loss and pain.  It’s a sonic sunset: drawing proceedings to night and to inner, personal musings on life.  Just because it ain’t distorted don’t mean it ain’t heavy, folks. 

Tuscon’s finest have certainly brought out the best in themselves in ‘City of Dust’: it’s evocative, confident, and as heavy as King Kong’s nutsack.  If it’s a bite of sludge potency you’re after, Godhunter has that particular vintage right there, waiting for you.  Get sonically drunk at the ‘City of Dust’ right now. 

Words by : Chris Markwell

You can buy CD and preorder the vinyl here

For more information :

http://godhunter.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/godhuntertucson666
http://www.earsplitdistro.com
https://www.facebook.com/TheCompoundRecs

The Sludgelord News : GODHUNTER's City Of Dust Out Now; Full Album Streaming At The Obelisk

GODHUNTER's City Of Dust, the monolithic debut full-length release from these antagonistic protesters, is now officially out today.

A cooperatively released album, City Of Dust is the second title for both Earsplit's new label, The Compound, and Godhunter's own Battleground Records, the record thundering with the most concise, diverse, and infectious hymns from the politically-motivated Tucson, Arizona-based outfit's fairly extensive discography to date. Through a fifty-minute dust storm of pulverizing, groove-laden, resin-coated sludge metal intensity, this brutally honest outcry boasts thought-provoking, thematic tirades against the governmental members and parties the residents who embody GODHUNTER feel are directly responsible for a wide array of vital societal issues effecting their home region, including equal rights, a widespread water shortage, immigration and more.

Today, underworld rock outlet, The Obelisk, is helping spread the word on GODHUNTER's proud introductory full-length with a track-by-track breakdown of its epic concept, positioned alongside a full stream of City Of Dust, in part stating of the album, "the eight component tracks of the 49-minute album come across with staggering intensity despite what's usually a fairly grueling pace. It is as much a multi-chapter sludgecore manifesto as it is a collection of memorably-riffed songs," later adding, "they've presented a multifaceted and passionate foundation from which to progress. On any angle from which you might want to approach it, City Of Dust is more than just a sludge record."

Unload and explore the torrid City Of Dust at The Obelisk, RIGHT HERE.

Order the eco-friendly digipak CD version of City Of Dust from Earsplit Distro alongside a stack of otherGODHUNTER merch HERE and the digital via the band HERE. The deluxe, 180-gram LP version of the album is now in production and preorders and details on its' release will be available in the coming weeks.

Now, with the primary objective of releasing City Of Dust now complete, GODHUNTER is fully immersed in the second phase of the attack, with several regional tour offensives underway, including an upcoming West Coast run with Oakland, California's Secrets Of The Sky to be announced in the coming days. It's going to be a busy year for this regiment; you've hereby been notified.

http://dirtweedmetal.com

http://godhunter.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/godhuntertucson666

https://www.facebook.com/battlegroundrecords

http://www.thecompoundrecs.com

https://www.facebook.com/TheCompoundRecs

http://www.earsplitdistro.com

Source : EarSplit PR