Tuesday 16 August 2016

REVIEW: “The Great Sabatini/Godstopper” Split - The Great Sabatini & Godstopper

By: Hunter Young

 
Album Type: Split
Date Released: 19/08/2016
Label: No List Records

 
 
“The Great Sabatini/Godstopper” Split CS/DD track listing:
 
1.The Great Sabatini - I'm Not The Man Of The Hour (2:09)
2.The Great Sabatini - Shortwave Radio (1:03)
3.The Great Sabatini - The Ear Collector (2:31)
4.The Great Sabatini - Dog Years (Quiet) (2:51)
5.Godstopper - It's Alright (3:59)
6.Godstopper - A Prayer (4:47)
 
 
The Review:
 
A fresh split has been dropped by the Metal Gods, this time from the insanity that is The Great Sabatini and the monster that is Godstopper.
 
Split pretty evenly on time, TGS has 4 songs and opens the split, while Godstopper hits it out of the park with the last two tracks. While both bands come with quite the heavy game, they approach the record in very different ways. Sabatini comes with the most beautifully screwed up noise rock I have ever actually liked, allowing only 2 of their tracks “I'm Not The Man of the Hour” and “The Ear Collector” to be even remotely traditional songs, being bold, brash, heavy, and quite fun to listen to. They play to level walls and stir up the ether both inside the listener and off the stage. The two other tracks “Shortwave Radio” and “Dog Years (Quiet)” are mesmerizing in their non-traditional structures. Mainly composed of just sounds and some random notes on instruments chosen, more for “Dog Years (Quiet)”, The Great Sabatini manages to create an almost orchestral arrangement to their maelstrom of sound. It's absolutely lovely in its sonic carnage. 
 
Godstopper is pure heavy metal fury, using more traditional methods of song craft, as they simply crank their sound down and engage in pure pugilistic, phonic fury. Beginning with “It's Alright”, Godstopper delivers rapid riffing by means of staccato strumming betwixt withairy vocals that just destroy when using headphones. They deliver heavy, fast doom (really more just heavy metal, my own opinion), closing the album with the, at times extraordinarily minimalistic, “A Prayer”. With guitars that simple whine and croon, Godstopper has the throwback-esque sound of the likes of Graveyard and Witchcraft, but with a very modern interpretation and tone, giving them very high replay for whomever snags this mixed bag of a split.
 
Prepare yourself for an extended stay in your favourite chair, because you need to hear this glorious record a few times before you're satisfied!
 
“The Great Sabatini/Godstopper” is available here
Band info: The Great Sabatini: Thegreatsabatini.com | Facebook | Twitter @thegreatsabatini
Godstopper: Bandcamp | Facebook
RIYL: Torche, Unsane, Melvins, Helmet