Gypsy Chief Goliath & End of Age Stream Turned to Stone – Ch. 7 Split in Full; Album Out Friday
Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on January 18th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The seventh installment of Ripple Music‘s Turned to Stone split series, featuring Windsor, Ontario’s Gypsy Chief Goliath and Lancaster, Pennsylvania’s End of Age, will be released this Friday, Jan. 20. Curated this time by Bucky Brown of Doom Charts fam, the coming together of the two acts represents roads taken and arrivals in unexpected places, drawn around a 39-minute listening experience that’s more like two coinciding EPs than either a front-to-back linear outing or the hodgepodge sampler platter that splits sometimes are. That it isn’t haphazard should be no grand surprise — it is the seventh chapter of Turned to Stone, and Turned to Stone is Ripple‘s second split series — but both bands are newer embodiments for some familiar players, be it Gypsy Chief Goliath‘s Al “The Yeti” Bones, of Mister Bones, Georgian Skull and The Mighty Nimbus, or End of Age‘s Ben McGuire and Mark Hanna, who used to play together in a called Black Cowgirl.
Gypsy Chief Goliath bookend their five tracks with an intro and outro, starting with “Loup Garou” and ending with a mellow figure at the close of “Shadows of a Solar Love.” Between those, they’re likely to fill any quota you’ve got for piss and vinegar with “Demons Suffer” and the hard-hitting instrumental “Black Dwarf,” while “High Priest” takes a less gutted-out approach vocally and “Shadows of a Solar Love” ties it all together with force and groove, the five-piece making the most of their opportunity to showcase some variety in their take on heavy, be it the Sabbathian initial rollout of “Demons Suffer” or the bruiser dudeliness that follows, the band who were last heard from studio-wise with 2019’s Masters of Space and Time (discussed here) finding an organic sense
of breadth without sacrificing traditional songwriting for atmosphere.
It just so happens they’re an act who can write more than one kind of song. Tense in its chug, “High Priest” is less metal ultimately than either the lead lines atop the beginning of “Demons Suffer” before or the nodding impact of “Black Dwarf” after, and even if the combination of the intro “Loup Garou,” “Black Dwarf” and the final stretch of “Shadows of a Solar Love” — dig that fuzz, kids — makes the band seem less grounded than they otherwise might be, it’s a ruse. Whatever else they have going on, Gypsy Chief Goliath are songwriters, and the variety is on purpose. In just 19 minutes, they present a style that’s classically heavy but not beholden to any single notion of what that means. Bones is a distinct frontman presence, but the band behind him are more than able to hold their own for the instrumentals and in standing up to the challenge of the verse/chorus tunes. Solid band. Hard-hitting, no pretense, no bullshit. Rock for rockers.
Over on side B, End of Age also present five songs, and while one can listen to Hanna‘s snare on “Want to Go” and “Yelling Tree” and hear roots in self-titled Queens of the Stone Age, there’s a decided punk rock undercurrent to the band on the whole. Not so much in McGuire‘s vocals, which in themselves are more clenched-throat and would fit just as well over sludge, but in the combination of riffs and grooves on “Cat’s Blood,” I just can’t escape a hint toward Social Distortion or maybe even Bad Religion — that kind of punk that the metal kids liked in high school. True to Gypsy Chief Goliath on side A, End of Age don’t just do one thing for 19 minutes and punch out, but their sound is more united by McGuire‘s vocals at least until they get around to “Aestivation,” which builds on the psychedelic emergence later in the penultimate “Dormant Hibernation” with acoustic and far-back electrics, synth, and a higher-register voice that, if it’s McGuire at all, is a 
pointed departure from some of the shout-derived-but-not-shouting prior.
Respect for that, either way. In addition to the previous ’90s allusions, there’s some Thin Lizzy swing to “Cat’s Blood” as well, while “Want to Go” is more forward push, poppy in its backing vocals (there they are; that’s the setup to “Aestivation”), and “Yelling Tree” makes a rawer, in-the-room studio feel part of its direct listening experience. According to the narrative (blessings and peace upon it), part of the reason this is End of Age‘s first outing after Black Cowgirl‘s final release in 2014 is because McGuire and Hanna spent years building their own recording space, and if this is the level of output they’re able to hone there, then their time has not been wasted. The chemistry throughout, the spaciousness and psychedelic lean in the back half of “Dormant Hibernation” and the shift between that and “Aestivation” are all emblematic of the duo’s past playing together, and while I don’t know what their next step is or how many songs they might already have in the can after so many years, they sure as shit sound ready to make a record. Hopefully sooner than later.
So, like I said at the outset, “unexpected places.” Keep that in mind as you dig into the tracklisting below, and take some time with each half of Turned to Stone Ch. 7. The release earns that, I think, through the quality of its songwriting from both groups, from the differences between them, and the fluidity of style they share without actually sharing much in terms of style beyond basics like, “have riffs, have songs,” and so on. In the interest of straightforwardness, this is a worthy inclusion in a series that’s already produced a few gems, and will surely help put Gypsy Chief Goliath and End of Age‘s music into the ears of those most likely to appreciate it being there.
Gypsy Chief Goliath / End Of Age ‘Turned To Stone Chapter 7’
Out January 20th on Ripple Music
US preorder – https://ripplemusic.bigcartel.com/product/turned-to-stone-ch-7-gypsy-chief-goliath-and-end-of-age-deluxe-vinyl-editions
World preorder – https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/turned-to-stone-chapter-7
North American heavy rock units GYPSY CHIEF GOLIATH and END OF AGE join forces for the release of the ‘Turned To Stone Chapter 7’ split album, to be issued this January 20th on Ripple Music. Listen to a gritty first track now with GCG’s “Demons Suffer”!
Get ready to welcome the seventh chapter of Ripple Music’s ‘Turned To Stone’ series of thematic split releases, curated here by Bucky Brown (Doom Charts). Combining the multi-faceted talents of Ontario-based heavy mongers GYPSY CHIEF GOLIATH and Pennsylvania’s proto-metal duo END OF AGE, ‘Turned To Stone Chapter 7’ offers a generous 10-track journey through the ages of heavy. GCG effortlessly sprinkle their loud stoner metal assaults with adventurous 70s hard rock, in a rowdy Corrosion Of Conformity-meets-Thin Lizzy approach. On side B, END OF AGE delivers a frenzy of 70s-infused heavy drenched in unforgettable melodies and exquisitely progressive at times.
TRACKLIST:
1. Gypsy Chief Goliath – Loup Garou
2. Gypsy Chief Goliath – Demons Suffer
3. Gypsy Chief Goliath – High Priest
4. Gypsy Chief Goliath – Black Dwarf
5. Gypsy Chief Goliath – Shadows Of A Solar Love
——————–
6. End Of Age – Want To Go
7. End Of Age – Yelling Tree
8. End Of Age – Cat’s Blood
9. End Of Age – Dormant Hibernation
10. End Of Age – Aestivation
Gypsy Chief Goliath:
Al “The Yeti” Bones (The Mighty Nimbus, Georgian Skull, Mister Bones) – vocals/guitar
Adam Saitti (Georgian Skull, Ol Time Moonshine) – drums
John Serio – lead guitar
Jeff Phillips (Thine Eyes Bleed, Kittie) – lead guitar
Jagger Benham – Bass
End of Age:
Ben McGuire – vocals/guitar
Mark Hanna – drums
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