The Gersch - The Gersch [Tortuga Recordings - 2006]The Gersch are grim and grimy sludgy doom with bitter hardcore elements, with a more punky take on Ozzy Osborne for vocals, this is down and dirt metal, taste of the desert and sand burnt eyes and terminal hangovers. And it’s a rather enjoyable rough and ready metal trip. They originate from the from the mid-late 90s, featuring at the moment Isis/Red Sparrowes sound effects guru/multi-instrumentalist Clifford Meyer, it’s unclear from the information, I have to hand who else is in the band. On offer are nine tracks- that keep a good balance between filthy brutality, memorable riff and grim atmosphere. It very much feels like a cross breed, between Black Sabbath and 80’s hardcore, bred down an needle ridden back alley. Each song lurches and crashes into the next, this music to not think to much about, just get taken by the bone rattling grove. Some of my favourite tracks are: Listwish- with it’s crushing slow pace, riff that contorts in to great ugly shapes. It seems to tell of hazing early hours of the morning, black candles, near guttering, smell of sour drink and sweat in the air, but you feel you’ve got head bang one last time, before you collapse. Taekr snakes in through your ears, shadowy snake like, it’s crusty and decaying riff rattling your head slowly, like the death toll of the end of the world, add to this, voices and singing that bounce around, like in a hellish echo chamber. A highly enjoyable release, making a wonderfully down a dirty, bubbling cauldron mix of doom and bloody nosed punky attitude.
Roger Batty
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