No matter how you feel about the Kyuss reunion under the Kyuss Lives moniker, I hope it has at least rekindled your interest in that heavy desert rock the boys used to make for us. Fortunately, Small Stone Recordings has been carrying the flame while the rest of you have been trendhopping like a bunch of bitches. (How’s that blackened deathgrind re-thrash emocore working for ya?) And as with last year’s revelation House Of Broken Promises, the label has given us another rare hunk of hard rockin’ gold in Gozu.

Presumably named after the bizarre Japanese flick, this Massachusetts quartet describe their sound as “GAAHL meets Hellhammer meets Clutch” — and who am I to fucking argue with that?! To say that Locust Season, their magnificent debut, rocks is an understatement. For much of 2010, I’ve been pining for some serious hard rock and been given slim pickings from the mainstream as well as the underground. Friends, our long national nightmare is over, and we are in Gozu’s debt. Check out “Regal Beagle” below and tell me that if rock radio actually rocked anymore this wouldn’t be a fucking chart topper!

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-GS

Formed by some of the other members of John Garcia’s post-Kyuss project Unida, House of Broken Promises seriously rock so hard that it should terrify Buckcherry, Daughtry, Nickelback, and the rest of their lackluster ilk. Simply put, they fucking rule. Don’t believe me? Then check out the video for “The Hurt (Paid My Dues),” which comes off their just-released debut Using The Useless.

If, like me, you’ve been craving something that’s “heavy” without being “brutal,” you ought to buy this immediately. While you’re at it, be sure to pick up Pig Charmer the latest from House of Broken Promises’ Small Stone Recordings labelmates Throttlerod. Both of them are late contenders for my best-of-2009 list.

-GS

[Gary Suarez is bad for your health. He usually manages WHOLLY DIVER (a Dio tribute site) and the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]