Gone Is Gone: Echolocation
From day one, Gone Is Gone have downplayed their own fame: obscuring their faces in press photos and insisting in interviews that they aren’t a “supergroup,” despite featuring a hodgepodge of modern rock/metal veterans (Mastodon singer/bassist Troy Sanders, Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, At the Drive-In drummer Tony Hajjar and composer/multi-instrumentalist Mike Zarin). Deflecting expectations is a sound strategic move, as the quartet’s debut LP, Echolocation, feels like its own brooding beast. Zarin, the band’s least famous but most crucial member, establishes a spacious, textural tone with shadowy synth interludes, showcasing the skills of his underrated bandmates. Sanders, whose bass and vocals are often buried in Mastodon’s distorted deluge, shines throughout—stretching from whispers (the spooky “Sentient”) to octave-spanning bellows (post-rock epic “Colourfade”). Some moments dissolve into monochrome metal mush (“Resurge”), but when Gone Is Gone push themselves, they sound like no one but themselves.