What shall you give your love on this Valentine’s Day? This person advises against store-bought flowers because they’re not planet-friendly. Boxes of sweets that rot teeth and burgeon butts? Maybe not the best idea either. Is there anything you can do that isn’t damaging in some way (even though love is almost always damaging at some point)?
How about showing your affection with a gift of some thundering music that includes “elements of anthemic, epic, traditional heavy metal with torrents of harmonized savagery and brief ventures into the likes of punk, classic rock, and more”?
That’s the PR come-on for the self-titled debut album by Hands of Goro, which is set for release on March 1st. It’s a seductive come-on, and becomes even more seductive when you see that the band’s three participants include members of Spirit Adrift, Nite, Slough Feg, and former live members of Carcass and Angel Witch.
To be more specific, those participants are founding guitarist Tom Draper (Spirit Adrift, ex-Carcass and Angel Witch-live), bassist Adrian Maestas (Slough Feg), and drummer Avinash Mittur (Nite, Wretched Stench).
What they’ve cooked up in honor of Mortal Kombat’s fearsome half-human, half-dragon is indeed a multi-faceted mix of sensations, just as the come-on promised, and we’ve got proof of that in the song “Demonizer” that we’re bringing you on this affectionate day.
As always we’ve got our own introduction, but let’s first share what the three hands of Goro have to tell you about it:
Tom Draper: “Fast, frantic and punky with an obligatory shred-fest halfway through.”
Avinash Mittur: “This is one of the older tunes in Goro’s repertoire and I did my best to stay faithful to the scrappy feel of the original while adding my own speed metal flair to it. ‘Demonizer’ is relentless and a hell of a workout for my poor feet!”
Adrian Maestas: “A young man betrays those closest to him and becomes a willful servant to Goro, fulfilling a prophecy that began when he was young, when a years-long spell was cast upon him rendering his soul vulnerable for easy consumption.”
As those comments and the track name portend, “Demonizer” is a speed demon of a song, well-calculated to get hearts pounding and blood rushing. Propelled by vibrantly galloping drums with a punk flair and a feverishly throbbing bass, it delivers riotous riffing that blares and sizzles, slashes and squirms, creating an experience of evil delirium that’s both grand and unhinged.
A white-hot guitar solo propels the song to even greater heights of free-wheeling glory, and from there it exultantly stays way up in the stratospheric red-zone… until it suddenly burns through a veil into an eerie and unsettling audio realm where bizarre electronics skitter and wail.
The clean-sung vocals also contribute to the song’s soaring glory, rocketing sunward in riveting cries, but there are some bestial growls and rabid howls in the mix too, lest we forget that here there be dragons too.
Where might this song lead you and your love on Valentine’s Day? Quite possibly to some sweaty activity where clothing is a hindrance. But, to be clear, there’s no need for companionship to enjoy this song, just a willingness to let your head go wild for about four minutes of heavy metal revelry.
Here are some more details, cribbed from the PR materials:
“The album was recorded and produced by HANDS OF GORO, captured at The Boatyard and Francisco Studios. The drums and guitars were recorded in two secret rooms located on a dilapidated former naval base, and the vocals, bass and synthesizers tracked in an underground space right off the dirty streets of San Francisco’s Tenderloin district.”
“Mixing and engineering was handled by the band’s Avinash Mittur, the tracks were mastered by Justin Weis at Trakworx Studio, and the album was completed with artwork by Christie Crapeticio and photography by Jehn.w.a. and Raymond Ahner.”
Hands Of Goro will see release on the band’s own BSP Records, digitally and on vinyl. Check the links below for more info and to pre-order.
And if you’re in the vicinity of Oakland CA on February 24th, you can catch Hands of Goro‘s record release show at Eli’s Mile High Club, where they’ll be joined by Bay Area shredders Dekapitator (their first Oakland show in 14 years) and Molten. Find more info about the show here.
And FINALLY, if you venture over to the Bandcamp page for the album you can listen to two more hellaciously good songs from the album — “Uncanny” and “Archduke of Fear“.
PRE-ORDER AND CONNECT:
https://linktr.ee/handsofgoro
https://handsofgoro.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/handsofgoro
https://www.facebook.com/thehandsofgoro