There’s something stirring in the jungle. It’s been biding its time before revealing itself to an unsuspecting world. It’s a creature we’ve never seen or heard before but something tells me that’s all about to change. If you listen carefully you can hear it coming. The grounds shaking and what’s that flying through the trees? It’s a.... no it can’t be…you can’t run and you can’t hide from a ……300ft Gorilla.

Okay enough of the melodramatics. I just wanted to get your attention.3ooft Gorilla are actually four musicians who with their debut album “Gorilla Tactics” have created one of the most original, creative and energetic releases of the year so far. In fact this album is both special and spectacular. After the first spin you will find yourself going back time and time again. I guarantee you won’t be able to resist the urge.

Opening track “King” is a song, which will have you grinning from ear to ear and thanking the “god of riffs” for what your ears are receiving. Big, fat, fruity guitars drive this song and lay waste to anything that comes in its way. This is rock guitar of the highest quality from Paul Hindmarsh. Dense layered chordal harmonies abound and inventive rhythm patterns are the perfect accompaniment to a direct and passionate vocal performance from Graham Parker whose vocals have a great bright timbre that really cuts through the mix.

“Now And Hereafter” is a great up-tempo, slightly dark and funky number. This song shows off Paul’s formidable chops to great effect. There is a very cool Hendrix, Michael Landau style solo midway through and the verse patterns are played in the “slapping, tapping harmonics” fashion that Van Halen demonstrated and brought to the world on their classic track “Mean Streets”. Paul uses this technique a lot and has taken it to new and personal levels by using it as an integral part of his playing style rather than as a party trick.

“Is Over” is a great funky, stomping track with cool riffing that Nuno Bettencourt would be proud of. It also has a very melodic solo, which just hits the spot. Laid back and very tasty. I loved the high harmony vocals on this track. It brought to mind the way Van Halen used to approach things.

“Holiday” sees Paul playing a blinder of a riff with his harmonic tapping approach. This is a song with a great in your face funky attitude. There are some crazy and very cool licks in the mix, which pass you by on the first, listen but jump out at you on repeated listens. This track is a real band effort but one has to say Graham Parker goes the extra mile towards the end of the track with some punishing angry vocals.

“2 Hours” has great meaty hard rock riff anchoring the song down and some great vocal harmonies. Great changes in tempo take a mid tempo song into new directions but it isn’t long till the opening riff demands that the song follow its lead. Some riffs are so effective they dictate where the song goes and “2 Hours” has one of them.

“Sharks” is an optimistic, funky and rhythmically intricate shuffle. At times some melodic patterns reminded me of Steve Vai’s “Attitude Song”. It’s bold and brash and has an infectious sing a long quality.

“Those Who Watch” is a tour de force of imaginative and creative guitar playing. There is great funky, deep and dirty bass playing on this track from Neil Lough who brings a sense of fun to a fairly dark track. A nice guitar solo mixes edgy atonal playing with jazz, blues and shreddingly fast licks.

“Dazed In The Sunlight” for this reviewer is one of the standout tracks on the album. The guitar sounds truly gorgeous. This track is slow and very mellow with a great intimate vocal delivery. This is slow burn music, which the band builds up beautifully. A nice solo sees the guitar played just on the edge of feedback frenzy. Classy stuff.

“Firefly” sees the band pressing the sophisticated funk button. The chorus is a corker and the whole song sounds just so damn original. There is a real sense of improvising and going for it on this track. Even more bizarrely and also pleasing is the double tracked vocals, which had me thinking Dave Lee Roth had joined the band (uncanny).

“Wavelength” is a strong and straight ahead number which sees the band locking in together and grooving in a gently commercial way. There are some great textures and sounds on this track showing the band and the engineer know their way around their studio.

“Vital” has some great vocal moments and is an immensely catchy track, which leads into “First Stone Intro”. I’m a sucker for this heavily flanged, rotating speaker-affected guitar and it’s captured to perfection on this short intro to “First Stone”. This song is laden with attitude and the changing textures to the vocals give the song a real edge. Throw in fast and slithery guitar soloing and you have a corker of a track.

“Summertime Flows” has a great lazy and laid back funky feel. It has a great melodic chorus and quaint angelic harmony vocals. Some of the distorted guitar is played a bit more “straight” than what has come before on the album, which gives the song an individual feel.

“Zinc” begins with an acoustic instrumental. It’s short and very sweet and sets up the song perfectly. This is a great hard rocking track and knowing what I know of the band I would say the inspiration for some of the lyrics is autobiographical.300ft Gorilla have origins as a band that go back a long way and it’s great to finally see them getting their original and unique music out to the masses.

A lot of us who used to see some of these songs played live many years ago are thrilled to see then finally “down” and “recorded”. It’s been a long wait but worth it.

If your looking for a truly innovative and unique sounding band then stop by the bands web site and order this CD. It won’t disappoint. As a footnote the bands bio has to be read to be believed. It’s as innovative a their music.

All in all a very, very cool album that deserves to be heard.

Let us know your views on Gorilla Tactics

Track Listing

King
Now or Hereafter
Is Over
Holiday
2 Hours
Sharks
Those Who Watch
Dazed in the Sunlight
Firefly
Wavelength
Vital
First Stone Intro
First Stone
Summertime Flows
Zinc
Gorilla Pyramid

Line Up

Paul Hindmarsh – Guitar
Mick Robson – Drums
Neil Lough – Bass
Graham Parker - Vocals