Recorded in 2020, the second full-length from Calgary heavy rockers Gone Cosmic, titled Send for a Warning, the Future’s Calling, arrives on Sept. 2 through Grand Hand Records. Premiering below, “For Sabotage” is the third single from the impending LP behind the opener “Crimson Hand” (which it also follows on the record) and the side B leadoff “Endless,” and it brings into focus the underlying progressivism of the band’s approach. Oh they’re a rock band, make no mistake, but if you take a listen to the King Buffalo-y guitar in “For Sabotage” or any of the three singles, more generally the message is there waiting to be heard — Gone Cosmic are the kind of band who blow other bands off the stage.

In 2019, the four-piece made their debut on Kozmik Artifactz with Sideways in Time (review here), and even two years after the fact, the urgency that they put into getting back into the studio for the follow-up resonates. Vocalist Abbie Thurgood is a classic heavy rock belter, and from “Crimson Hand” through the sci-fi funk of closer “The Future’s Calling,” her performance is likewise dynamic and forceful. To wit, the three-minute “To Refuse Compromise.” That’s it. That song is the sentence. But guitarist Devin “Darty” Purdy, bassist Brett Whittingham and drummer Marcello Castronuovo are more than a backing band to showcase the talent of their frontperson. It’s Castronuovo who fires the first shots, launching “Crimson Hand” with a drum fill that — once you’ve actually listened to the rest of what follows — is revealed as a signifier of intent. And whether it’s the buildup of “Envy Thrives” or the plotted post-apex comedown of “Causeway,” Gone Cosmic interpret progressive heavy rock as a means to generate movement, to energize and excite.

Send for a Warning, the Future’s Calling was produced and mixed by Josh Rob Gwilliam at OCL Studios, and what a task that must’ve been. Thurgood‘s voice is at the forefront — it could hardly be anywhere else — but to listen to the glorious punch of Whittingham‘s bass on “For Sabotage” or the centerpiece “The Wrong Side of Righteous” as Purdy‘s guitar weaves around it in Elderian noodling style, or the way in which Castronuovo‘s fill seems to roll downhill as “Endless” begins to move toward its payoff at around the 2:40 mark, and the balance of elements at play is striking. Understand, Gone Cosmic aren’t playing expansive, dug in progadelia for their own indulgence. The longest song here is the semi-titular closer “The Future’s Calling” at an airier 6:22, until the penultimate “Taste for Tragic,” the album shifts back and forth between three-minute and four-minute tracks, and for seven of nine inclusions, that pattern results in a raucous, largely uptempo rager.

But there’s no dumbing-down happening anywhere. Gone Cosmic aren’t trying to curb their impulses — again, the ethos “To Refuse Compromise” — so much as bring the listener to their level. And Send for a Warning, the Future’s Calling can be challenging to keep up with as it moves from one side to the other on diagonals, angular corners, forward thrust, reverse transwarp and all this, but the songwriting on the whole is no less a consideration than the instrumental contributions — vocals included — on which it’s built. Even as “Taste for Tragic” gallops to its finish to let the swaying shove of “The Future’s Calling” take hold for an early throwdown before the space-out begins, there’s intent if not staid poise — there isn’t really staid anything — and by the time the album gets to that point, you’re either on board with the band having earned enough trust to believe they’ll make it work, which they do, or you’ve already stopped listening and it doesn’t matter anyhow, except to say you’re missing out and it’s your loss, etc.

One way or the other, Gone Cosmic‘s 39-minute stretch on Send for a Warning, the Future’s Calling draws from multiple sides, and if I’ve focused on the progressivism above, it’s because that’s the underlying foundation, but be sure, there’s plenty of blues rock, psychedelia and outright heavy-heavy to go along with that, and the band’s sense of fluidity emerges from the interaction of elements, stylistic and practical, as they recast genre to suit their purposes. Is it the future? I don’t know. It’s born of the past but not hindered by sentimentality for it, and the command of craft certainly comes across as forward-thinking, but one generally thinks of the future these days as a dark and dystopian place — you know, like the present — and Gone Cosmic here are pushing a brighter but nonetheless realistic vision. I wouldn’t know the future if it punched me in the throat, and maybe that’s what’s going on with “The Wrong Side of Righteous,” but I’ll say that I wouldn’t mind if this was it.

Preorder link and sundry PR wire info follow the premiere of “For Sabotage,” which is on the player below.

Enjoy:

Gone Cosmic, “For Sabotage” track premiere

Abbie Thurgood on “For Sabotage”:

“We are constantly challenged by competitive societal attitudes such as ‘at all costs’ and ‘must win’ mentalities. ‘For Sabotage’ explores stepping outside of these norms and expectations that are ingrained in us encouraging the ability to see consequential thought processes and objectively view one’s path rather than being reactionary. ‘For Sabotage’ is a call to be more kind to oneself and to listen pursue and trust our own individual thought processes.”

Buy the CD/Vinyl here: https://gonecosmic.bandcamp.com/

Gone Cosmic – For Sabotage
Written and performed by Gone Cosmic from album ‘Send for a Warning, the Future’s Calling’ releasing on September 1, 2022
Produced, Recorded, and Mixed by Josh Rob Gwilliam at OCL Studios in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Mastered by Brian “Big Bass” Gardner
Art by Brock Lefferts
Album release via Grand Hand Records.
Copyright and Publishing 2022 Gone Cosmic Entertainment

Championed by a soaring songstress Abbie Thurgood (The Torchettes), whose boldly evocative tones recall Skunk Anansie chanteuse Skin and Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard, and accompanied by an agile and aggressive psych-rock outfit, composed of guitarist Devin “Darty” Purdy (Chron Goblin), bass player Brett Whittingham (Chron Goblin), percussionist Marcello Castronuovo (Witchstone), Gone Cosmic has carved out an expansive domain that stretches from sweltering Southern sludge pits to breath-stealing sonic spacewalks.

A blood (orange)-scented breeze that bows the trees, Gone Cosmic chases the infinite haze from the skies and puts it right back in your eyes. Groove-mining breakdowns become the stuff of legend as the four pieces’ floor-thudding tail kick and hellfire halo holler originates a whole that is far more potent than the sum of its individual elements. Meet your new astromancers, the phase-shifting and hard-rocking force that channels the empyreal sounds of heaven on Earth. – Christine Leonard (Beatroute AB, Canada)

GONE COSMIC is
Abbie Thurgood – Vocals
Devin “Darty” Purdy – Guitar
Brett Whittingham – Bass
Marcello Castronuovo – Drums

Gone Cosmic, Send for a Warning, the Future’s Calling (2022)

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Tags: Alberta, Calgary, Canada, Gone Cosmic, Gone Cosmic Send for a Warning The Future's Calling, Grand Hand Records, Send for a Warning the Future's Calling

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