The following is an album review by guest contributor Chad Beck

Up from the murky depths of Austin’s vibrant and noisy underground, this septet rolls over the listener like a steamroller driven by the devil himself. A couple of recent high-profile gigs opening for the briefly re-united Scratch Acid were fitting, the band’s sound lies somewhere in the ballpark where Butthole Surfers, Black Sabbath, and the Melvins come to play. Heavy, deliberate, and visceral, Gorch Fock sound like the Apocalypse, loud enough to bring down the heavens and shake earth’s infrastructure to dust. The band’s third record, Thrilller (the third “l” seemingly implies superiority to another record with a similar title), is their sharpest achievement yet, bringing gargantuan ambition and killer hooks together in an impressive feat of sound.

A healthy tour schedule the past three years is the most logical reason for the band’s evolution, now a cohesive unit despite ambitious efforts. Aaron and Jeff, the two drummers, play in lock-step with bassist Win Wallace creating a heaving rhythm section for the rest to weave and bob around. A trio of guitarists and a manic vocalist, who also plays trombone through a bevy of effect pedals (seriously), do exactly that, relishing in an overwhelming wall of noise. Not ones to do anything quietly, Gorch Fock pull out all the stops on Thrilller, with blistering anthems and shards of psychosis-inducing noise.

The sheer gravity and mood of Thrilller are exemplified in the hair-raising atmospherics of “Fitzcarroldo” as much as the blunt force trauma of “Mary Had A Little Drug Problem” or “Cary Michael Jackson.” Gorch Fock aren’t exactly safe listening…one is meant to engage and survive them on their twisted level, facing ugly reality in blunt terms, grinding it all into a sonic maelstrom threatening to devastate and bewilder. Like hellfire itself, one should only listen if they are itching to get burned.

Gorch Fock - Thrilller (Australian Cattle God Records)

[Official Site]