GHXST – Nowhere EP
Weapons-grade fuzz and melody have long been the best of friends, but gloomy NYC trio GHXST are determined to break them up, applying a tin-opener to the cosy relationship in order to let their outcast “doom-grunge” into the jagged fold. Following a steady stream of killer singles and a grossly under-discovered LP they now return with the explosive Nowhere EP and, true to form, it’s crushing noise-rock par excellence that wails in sheer dissonance and drone.
The balance has changed this time around though. Now it’s super-heavy blues riffs and massive metal chops that dominate while Shelley X’s magnificently disinterested vocal hangs in suspension above the boiling cauldron beneath. She, Chris Wild and Nathan La Guerra alternate between face-thrusting aggression and slower tempo distorto-rock, swapping leaden riffs for sexy No Wave swamp-fuzz.
EP standout “No Luck” is a shit-kicking mosh fest built on nasty guitars run through some of sort of electric chair-cum-pedal, Shelly’s vocal silhouetted against a swarm of strobe light. And, as a buzz-saw solo rips out from the belly of the beast, you’re put in mind of something like Helmet’s contribution to The Crow soundtrack – out of time, sure, but never out fashion. GHXST are the new black.
Best track: “No Luck”
~The Nowhere EP is released January 26th 2015 via CLUB.THE.MAMMOTH.~