Gargantua – Voyage to the Bottom of Laguna Negra

Prior to this disc dropping on my desk, I knew approximately zero about Gargantua, and from the looks of things, it was gonna stay that way. First of all, there’s a really atrocious ‘alternative metal’ band from Connecticut called Gargantua Soul, and I though they mighta just shortened their name to trick me, or something. Also, there’s a picture of a big ugly fish on the cover, and what good can come of that? Luckily for us all, they put a hot chick with a gun on the back, and as we all know, sex sells. So I gave the fucker a spin. I expected the worst, really. Boy, was I wrong. Gargantua are actually a full-throttle, whiskey drenched riff n’ roll band from the wilds of Atlanta, and the exhaustingly titled “Voyage to the Bottom of Laguna Negra” is a blistering, sleazy, trucker metal assault that simply does not give up until you’re a twitching, sweat drenched mess of a puny human- until you are well and fully Rocked the Fuck Out. Musically speaking, Raging Slab and Gonzalez are two good places to start from, so’s COC, Brand New Sin, or Isabelle’s Gift; Gargantua wave a similar flag of southern-fried boogie metal madness. Still, there’s something so goddamn slinky about ‘em, that I can’t help but to think that they’re up to no good. But you know, evil always kicks ass, don’t it? “Get it On”, with it’s “I like to rock, I like to roll, and I like to get it on” intro and it’s speedball powerriffs sounds for all the world like a methed-up Ironboss, their cover of HG Lewis' “Theme from 2,000 Maniacs” is a venomous cowpunk rave-up, complete with banjo, “South of Valhalla” is Judas Priest as redneck Vikings, “Loaded” is the Misfits-meets-the Nuge with a “Detroit Rock City” chaser, “Animal” is prime cock n’ roll with a few lovingly copped Thin Lizzy riffs, and the list goes on. Fuck, I think I have a new favorite band on my hands. If you’re not hip to these fuckers, baby, than you’re not hip at all. Strap yourself in, Gargantua are about to take you on one hell of a ride.