With its cover of skull faced witches kneeling at the feet of goat headed Satan, I was almost expecting either all out stoner rock or maybe the editor had accidentally given me some badger faced black metal grunting to review (There’s always next time ;) LH). Instead, what came kicking out my speakers in a fog of Jagermeister and petrol fumes was a solid slab of motorcycle rock! Opening number ‘Pure Motorised Instincts’ fires out with battering guitar riffs and a pounding rhythm that carried through undaunted into ‘Dirty Little Girl;’ a refreshingly unsubtle number that harkens back to the Zodiac Mindwarp heyday.
Throughout the albums eleven hard rocking tracks, it’s clear where the band’s influences lie; Motorhead, Sabbath, and Monster Magnet are all referenced, simple, hard beats and dirty distorted riffs backed up by a drum kit being battered into surrender, lead from the front by confident growled vocals. ‘Shut Up’ adds a large dollop of sleaze rock into the mix; a nice contrast to the darker sounds elsewhere. Clocking in at over six and a half minutes and by far the longest offering on the album, ‘Lords of Oblivion’ manages to stand out, even above the high standards of the other ten numbers. Opening with an attention grabbing groove that the likes Clutch would be proud of, this Yorkshire four piece use the longer song to showcase their chops with a song that encompasses pit inducing riffs alongside some dirty, bluesy solos.
By comparison to the title track, ‘Alcoholocaust’ reverts to a punk rock assault of brutal simplicity, whilst the QOTSA quotient is turned up to the max in album closer ‘The Hangman Has Been Hired’, featuring the album’s cleanest vocals and a hook laden stomp of a guitar line, and a Mexican sounding trumpet solo contrasting the normal instrumentation! It sounds strange I know, but you’ll have to trust me when I tell you how well it works before the CD fades out to the sound of distant rain.
G U Medicine, despite a dodgy name that could lend itself to so many bad puns, have delivered an unpretentious, unashamed, and skilfully crafted offering of rock and metal. Can’t really ask for more, eh?
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