Review: Go!Zilla - Sinking In Your Sea

There was a time, a few years back, when the garage punk revival scene was a visceral, 'real' scene - bands like The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, various Mick Collins vehicles (The Screws, Blacktop, The Gories, and to a lesser extent The Dirtbombs), Oblivians and, adding an extra punk/grunge twist, Mudhoney. Then along came The Hives, The Jets and The White Stripes etc and the whole garage thang became diluted and somehow weaker - every bunch of tousled hair teenagers would pick up guitars, declare some kind of undying love for The Sonics and The Standells and produce the 'pop' equivalent of garage (The Caesar's 'Jerk It Out' even soundtracked an Apple advert FFS!).

So it's heartening to find a band like Go!Zilla producing some vibrant garage punk, with one foot in the sixties but the other firmly in the 21st century. Go!Zilla bill themselves as an "Acid Psychedelic Punk" and are a trio: Luca Landi (vocals/guitar), Fabio Ricciolo (vocals/drum) and Mattia Biagiotti (vocals/guitar) and have produced an album which will appeal to any lover of garage/surf/psych/fuzz.

The album kicks off in fine style with 'Melting', a garage stomper with some ace backing vocals and a real sixties vibe but with the vibrancy and urgency of punk...it acts as a real signpost for what is in store on the rest of the album. Title track 'Sinking In Your Sea' ups the heaviness level with some crashing drums and some fine psych-based guitar which strays into surfy twang but the vocals and the structure still maintain the sixties vibe. 'Looking In The Mirror' has a Neu! like motorik beat, adding something new into the mix, and the guitar is pure surf... surf krautrock anyone? It works and works well. 'Pollution' is another hi-octane fuzzy rocker leading on to 'Hiding Away' which lowers the tempo and has a real touch of the 13th Floor Elevators about it (who, as we know, are psych gods!). It gives the listener a chance to draw breath before 'I Hate All The Time'. If 'Hiding Away' channels the Elevators then 'I Hate All The Time' is a chance for the band to get their Mudhoney thing going on...the intro is pure Mark Arm and his comrades...reminiscent of 'Touch Me, I'm Sick'. The solid wall of fuzzy guitar give the track a real raw power (pun intended!)...a stormer. 'I've Seen A Riot' has the spirit of '77 with it's subject matter and it's pure punk driven urgency. 'Down In Your Thoughts' is another high tempo garage rocker, and 'Rubbish Mind' again takes us back to the sixtes with some ace psych guitar. Album closer 'Xilitla', with it's tribal drumming and reverb soaked surf guitar, is the musical equivalent of gazing over the plains of mid-western US. The atmosphere it evokes is similar to that that The Myrrors conjure (high praise!). By the end the track has morphed into another fuzz-driven monster, and so we go full circle.

There is nothing new about garage punk, but what Go!Zilla have successfully done is to take the formula and update it whilst stamping their own identity on it. It is a real belter of a record and has gone a long way to help revitalise my love of garage....thanks guys!

'Sinking In Your Sea' can be purchased through their Bandcamp page, and is available on vinyl and CD (while you are there, take some time to check out their 'Magic Weird Jack' EP from last year). It is released by and available from Black Candy Records (Italy), Beast Records (France), Lollipop Records (USA), Gnar Tapes (USA) and Algo Records (Chile)....phew!