There is more than a little super interesting stoner rock going on right now, and Gypsy Chief Goliath are adding to the legacy of rock and roll's latest, and greenest movement. There is something strangely entrancing about what the band has been able to do here with their brash harmonicas and melodic guitars. Though yes, they occasionally fall privy to a few too many stoner rock tropes, their latest offering, the monster that is Citizens Of Nowhere crunches forward with its stunning sense of forward motion. This is a band who know how to put together riffs upon riffs. Ultimately that's what this whole thing boils down to by the way, the riff. That's what Gypsy Chief Goliath are great at, coming out of the gate, all guns blazing, drowning you under their trademark grit.
One of the things that really gets me about Gypsy Chief Goliath is the way that the band is able to conjure up images of bombed out crust punk houses and the weird magic that marijuana has over us metalheads. There is something visceral and endearing about Gypsy Chief Goliath, you get lost in the resin of the sound, every riff another hit on the sonic bong that Gypsy Chief Goliath have crafted. I know that sounds bombastic, but given the wonderfully grimy vocals and Sabbathian stomp of the guitars, it's hard not to be enamored with what Gypsy Chief Goliath have done on Citizens Of Nowhere. This is an album meant for 1 percenters, the dudes who are lifers, dedicated to fighting against a world that has cast them down. Also – their are guitarmonies, and at the end of the day, what more do you really want from a band?
Like I said though, Gypsy Chief Goliath don't really hit the nail on the head every time. Some of the songs start to feel like filler, and the band is seriously limited by the sheer glut of Sleep-worship going on. It starts to blend into the sound that defines countless other bands. Though Gypsy Chief Goliath certainly have their fair share of interesting ideas, most notably in their melodic riffs, I sometimes have to wonder if they have much more than their ability to conjure up truly stoned vibes to capture the listeners attention. Maybe you can smoke weed to this, but does it pass the threshold for great art? I'm not so sure.
So yeah, there are a few bitchin' solos and more than a handful of cool melodic lines, but Citizens Of Nowhere does not make for the most compelling listen. That being said, they end this whole brouhaha with a moving (And very stoned) cover of Killing Yourself To Live and that's incredibly rad. As previously mentioned, the usage of harmonica is well done and adds a couple really interesting elements to the music and Gypsy Chief Goliath definitely have what it takes to move their music to the next level. They just need to move past some of the more standard tropes that they use as a crutch and prove that they are a band who can create their own void and take things to a bold new level.
