I wasn't really sure what kind of album I was going to get with this one, but it was actually pretty damn groovy – and really listenable. The band considers themselves a type of “Heavy Wicked Drunken Doom & Roll From Outer Space” and are influenced by bands like Pentagram, Uriah Heep and Lucifer's Friend as well as Candlemass and Cathedral. But I hear far more of that Pentagram and Uriah Heep feel to the music than I would Candlemass or Cathedral.
Unfortunately, I don't know much about the band other than the fact that the email contact I have for them here is Italian, so I'm guessing they are also an Italian act as with many Minotauro releases. But there's an interesting tidbit on the band's Facebook profile that considers frontman Gojira, “lustful screams from Japan.” I won't look too far into that however, because it's probably a bit foolish and I strongly doubt he is Japanese, even though that would quite surprise me. What you need to know about these guys is that they jam in the same vein as Orange Goblin or perhaps even something like The Sword. This is traditional Sabbathy jam-doom, and it's not all that foreboding. But it does make for a good time.
As far as Gojira's vocals are concerned, his wails are hit or miss and don't really matter as far as the rest of the performance is concerned. When I'm faced with the disc, I mainly hear the thick heavy bass with an additional drum front and some rather nice lead melodies from time to time. I'm often reminded of acts like Wolfmother even, just because of the whole rock n' roll tendency that seems to suffuse through the album. These guys love to rock and they love to roll, which is what this record proves pretty well. You have to appreciate the music before you come into it though. This is a decidedly older approach to the doom genre and doesn't contain all of the bells and whistles of more modern acts. There aren't any metal extremities or electronics, no female vocals or shoegaze riffs. It's pretty much the same sound that you grew up with, only filtered through the lens of even older music like Blue Cheer or Mountain. It's old, folks – but that doesn't mean it's outdated or broken. As I've heard it said; “being old is not a crime” and that's what I feel that UFOsonic Generator substantiate rather well with The Evil Sonic Possession.
There's even a little bit of a “heavy hippie” mentality here, which is I guess where the whole trip factor comes in, even though there aren't any huge atmospheric drug trip moments like you might expect. Many of the songs sound quite similar though, and the album seems to be the kind of disc that you can just play any cut from and get the same experience. I could easily hear Ozzy on the vocals here, which is what makes this collaborative effort of doom and rock courtesy of D.D Morris (guitar), Miguel Bell (awesome bass riffs), S. McManchester (drums) and Gojira well worth checking out.
I think I've listened to this disc about three times now and it was a very fluid listen the first time around. I found myself unexpectedly bobbing my head to the music, so one could say that it spoke to me. I'm not really sure about all the occult and Satanic terminology here, but I'd treat it the same as any Sabbath record really – it's all about the performance. Ozzy was so drugged up out of his mind that I had no idea what he was singing about half the time, and I'm pretty sure that he didn't either. Of course, I'm in so much physical pain right now that a disc like this certainly seems like good medicine. I'm not a doctor, but maybe it'll make you feel a little better too. It's definitely infectious, but in a good way. If you love music, that is.
(7 Tracks, 38:00)
9/10
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