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Gigafauna – Eye to Windward Review

By Kenstrosity

Established in 2015, Swedish progressive sludge quartet Gigafauna toiled in obscurity, releasing a couple of albums and marching bravely forward into a heavily contested field. This is the first time they’ve graced our little corner of the blogosphere, reaching out to us via our contact form, pushing their third record Eye to Windward. Equipped with a gorgeous cover by the largely unsung Moonroot Art, what otherworldly creatures lie before me in Gigafauna’s Eye to Windward? ONWARDS!

Gigafauna’s style is one unfettered by frills and fiddly fancies. Instead, it delivers a no-nonsense, stripped-down crunch reminiscent of early Mastodon and Warcrab. Balancing clean, proggy noodles with deathly chugs and vicious roars, Eye to Windward boasts a well-rounded palette of songwriting elements to give these 44 minutes plenty of ground to cover without exhausting Gigafauna’s stock of ideas. Tight writing, clever transitions, and engaging twists and turns make Eye to Windward a thoroughly enjoyable experience overall, while its dry and warm production invokes a certain grit to the affair that adds textural depth.

Much of Eye to Windward takes full advantage of the full breadth of skills Gigafauna possess, but some of its best moments come from when Gigafauna’s songwriting is at its most focused. Highlights “Pyre” and “Beneath Sun and Sky” embody this truth with great aplomb; the former pushing the record’s heaviest material with an unearthly musculature, while the latter transcends physical heft for a more sophisticated, progressive lean. In both examples, chunky riffs form each track’s strong backbone, while multifaceted vocals span the gamut between death metal roars and sneering cleans to add variety, and unsettled rhythms contribute a tasteful complexity to keep things interesting. Longer format entries like “Plagued” and “Vessel” take advantage of their more expansive estates to house all permutations of Gigafauna’s sound in one unified piece. While “Vessel” is decidedly more successful in this regard—its main riff is one of the best on record, and the noodling leads in the back half contrast brilliantly with a bass counterpoint—both pull off the feat with respectable form.

Where Eye to Windward falls a bit short is in excitement and distinctiveness. Opener “Drowning Light” is the most quintessential progressive sludge song ever, reminiscent of Mastodon as often as it is of Boss Keloid. The problem is that it is too reminiscent of those artists, and thereby fails to establish its own voice as Eye to Windward’s opening act. “Exogenesis” and “Withered Husk” perform admirably inside these boundaries, but once again struggle to break out of those confines and stake a new claim for their own. There are hints of evolution occurring there, especially in the soaring chorus and blackened rasps that pepper “Exogenesis,” but not quite enough to constitute a differentiated variation. By the grace of Gigafauna’s universally solid performances across the board, very little of this primary shortcoming negatively impacts the album experience in the moment, as Eye to Windward is thoroughly enjoyable while it plays. It’s only upon closer scrutiny that I recognize that Gigafauna needs to push a little harder to find their own voice if they want to stand out in the crowd.

Overall, Eye to Windward is a solid installment in the progressive sludge pantheon. With hooky choruses, muscular riffing and rippling leads, rumbling bass counterpoint, and varied rhythms, all of the pieces exist to craft a killer record. The biggest roadblock to that goal is distinctiveness in songwriting. Gigafauna are on the cusp of finding a voice that stands out, clear and unmistakable, in every song they write. However, they haven’t nailed that level of consistency just yet. You’ll hear it in flashes, and those flashes pop with excitement and vitality. I look to the future with great expectations that Gigafauna will release a record that pops that way from start to finish.

Rating: Good
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Self Released
Websites: gigafauna.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/gigafauna
Releases Worldwide: May 16th, 2025

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Yer Metal is Olde: Mastodon – Leviathan

By Saunders

Back in their early days, Atlanta’s progressive sludge juggernaut Mastodon could do little wrong. I remember perusing my local independent record store and being taken by the striking artwork and Relapse seal of approval on 2002’s debut Remission, roughly around the time of its release. After being crushed and destroyed by the iconic opening track, my love affair with Mastodon began. I have experienced the highs and lows of the band’s storied career; from the magical peak from Remission to 2009’s masterwork Crack the Skye, through the more streamlined and uneven period of the past decade-plus, turning these once critical darlings into a divisive, though wildly successful act. Yet I’ve never truly disliked a Mastodon album, enjoying their modern work on a lesser scale while acknowledging their peak days are well behind them. But it was their early material that solidified my love for the band. This is all a long-winded way to introduce their colossal sophomore opus and modern classic Leviathan as the latest inductee in the Halls of Olde to mark its twentieth anniversary.

Whereas the explosive Remission was a raw, ugly, abrasive slab of sludgy, grinding extreme metal with a subtly ambitious streak and technical edge, 2004’s Leviathan marked a more refined, adventurous, and progressive shift. Still boasting a heaving, thunderous punch, Leviathan’s musical template formed a perfect match with the album’s epic conceptual narrative, based on the classic novel Moby Dick by American writer Herman Melville. Aside from the increasingly varied moods, textures, and melodic and progified leanings, Leviathan’s double-pronged vocal assault began to evolve in appealing, contrasting ways, dabbling in cleaner vocal hooks and dynamic trade-offs. The vocal diversity was further bolstered by quality contributions from Clutch frontman Neil Fallon and Scott Kelly (Neurosis). Meanwhile, the intimidating instrumental skills of the band’s four members were pushed and taken to new levels, broadening their sonic palette and exploring rich, intricate progressive territories, from mellower channels to the predominant ironclad riffage and roughened, sludge-driven heft.

It’s easy to marvel at Leviathan’s attention to detail, ambitiously complex arrangements, emotional depth, and outstanding musicianship. However, these varied elements are always in service of quality, memorable songcraft, and grounded maturity, impressing so early in the band’s career. Raw, riffy, and adrenaline-spiking, “Blood and Thunder” is a classic opener and perfect introduction to the album, beefed up by a superbly burly guest performance by Fallon. Aside from the sprawling length, gorgeous melodies, and shifting tides of the epic “Hearts Alive,” for all its proggy intricacies and grand scale, Leviathan is a remarkably focused and compact album, packing tons of cool ideas into tightly packed and memorable tunes. Ruggedly built, catchy, and aggressive songs like “I am Ahab,” “Island,” “Iron Tusk” and the driving, thrashy “Aqua Dementia” contrast neatly against their melodic counterparts, such as the psych-drenched excellence and earworm hooks of “Seabeast,” featuring woozy melodies and a crushing climax. “Naked Burn” follows a similarly trippy trajectory to ‘Seabeast,” again showcasing the spidery axework of Brent Hinds and Brett Kelliher, while Hinds’ developing cleans deliver memorable vocal hooks.

Leviathan has an excellent flow, and the pacing and sequencing are fluid and slick, while the songwriting quality retains a high standard throughout. On their journey, Mastodon took some brave and challenging risks and leaps forward on Leviathan, without sacrificing heaviness or their rough-edged roots. In particular, the clean yet gritty production and unrefined cleaner vocal choices contain an endearing charm that holds up well twenty years after its release. Brann Dailor’s restlessly inventive drumming may not work for all listeners. Still, I remain in awe of his incredible chops and how they complement the technical and endlessly interesting guitar work, not to mention the mighty bellows and low-end muscle of Troy Sanders.

Musically, Mastodon branched well beyond sludge confines to embrace their progressive inclinations, classic rock influences, and southern roots, crafting tune after tune of intriguing, clever arrangements loaded with layers to peel back and reveal, along with a slew of instantly gratifying hooks. Brawny sludge rock punch intertwines with brainy prog metal and technical nuance to awesomely cohesive and memorable effect. Leviathan is a timeless album, a classic example of Mastodon operating at the peak of their powers, and arguably their crowning achievement. And like any album worthy of Yer Metal is Olde treatment, Leviathan remains an influential pillar that still sounds fresh, innovative, and exciting to this day.

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