photos by Jehn.w.a.
“As traditional as the genre they play in can be and as much as the influences call back to a bygone time, this isn’t your dad’s rock band: HANDS OF GORO are fired up and ready to destroy.” – Invisible Oranges
This Friday, Bay Area heavy metal trio HANDS OF GORO – formed by members of Spirit Adrift, Nite, Slough Feg, and former live members of Carcass and Angel Witch – will unveil their eponymous debut LP. Invisible Oranges is exclusively featuring the album in advance of its release.
HANDS OF GORO formed in November 2016 with the shared desire to strike fear of the infamous half-man/half-dragon into the heart of humanity. Hailing from opposite sides of the pond, founding guitarist Tom Draper (Spirit Adrift, ex-Carcass and Angel Witch-live) and bassist Adrian Maestas (Slough Feg) conspired to form a band that would spearhead a sound known as the Third Wave Of British Heavy Metal (TWOBHM). In 2020, the two recruited drummer Avinash Mittur (Nite, Wretched Stench), completing the current lineup.
The eight songs on Hands Of Goro thunder with elements of anthemic, epic, traditional heavy metal with torrents of harmonized savagery and brief ventures into the likes of punk, classic rock, and more. The album was recorded and produced by HANDS OF GORO, captured at The Boatyard and Francisco Studios. The drums and guitars were recorded in two secret rooms located on a dilapidated former naval base, and the vocals, bass and synthesizers tracked in an underground space right off the dirty streets of San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. Mixing and engineering was handled by the band’s Avinash Mittur, the tracks were mastered by Justin Weis at Trakworx Studio, and the album was completed with artwork by Christie Crapeticio and photography by Jehn.w.a. and Raymond Ahner.
Invisible Oranges conducted an interview with the HANDS OF GORO members, the interrogation now running alongside an early stream of the album reading in part, “While there’s a certain rocking edge that I always appreciate present throughout the entire album, there’s nothing so simple as a unified set of influences to point at to make neat comparisons to draw in new fans. Rambunctious punk, tough epicisms, and even thrash metal collide throughout the playtime, with stomping power chord riffs suddenly turning into tremolo picking the likes of which is rarely seen in this genre or more melodic sections being offset by off-kilter rhythms instead of going into a more traditional direction… As traditional as the genre they play in can be and as much as the influences call back to a bygone time, this isn’t your dad’s rock band: HANDS OF GORO are fired up and ready to destroy.”
Endure the salvo of HANDS OF GORO’s rampaging debut LP first through Invisible Oranges RIGHT HERE.
Hands Of Goro will be released this Friday, March 1st on the band’s own BSP Records, digitally and on vinyl. Find preorders HERE.
Following their hometown release show with Dekapitator and Molten, HANDS OF GORO is plotting new live excursions in support of the album. Watch for new show updates to post shortly.
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