THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Like the cicadas of the previous Summer, the troupe of romping rock deviants known as Godcaster have reemerged from beneath the dirt to fill the atmosphere with unbridled cacophony. Saltergasp is a brief reintroduction to the shining sextet of David Mcfaul (keys), Von Kolk (flute, vox), Bruce Ebersole (guitar, bass), Sam Pickard (drums), Judson Kolk (vox, guitar), and their newest member, Jan Fontana (bass). It also acts as an unflinching demonstration of an ensemble doing away with frivolity — Godcaster are coming straight for your still-beating heart.
Saltergasp is a glimpse of something rarely captured — each track has been regularly performed and mastered during Godcaster’s ritualistic live-sets. In this manner, Saltergasp is both an extension of Godcaster’s first, immense collection Long Haired Locusts, and a celebration of their euphoric public ceremonies that were impossible for far too long. The crisp drums and springy guitars on Hecky Skelters showcase the band’s innate talent for deliberate bombast. On the title track, the group conjure an instrumental suite that rips and toils between moments of anticipation and rapturous fury. Tippy Hightailed It is an equally funky and anxious tune that thrusts listeners into the center of growing auditory tension. Then Tiger Surrogates Hunts the Praying Mantis closes the EP with a lively, off-kilter incantation.
From start to finish, Saltergasp shines an otherworldly light on Godcaster’s Dionysian guitar frenzies. In just under 10 minutes, the band reestablish themselves as the leaders of an unstoppable sonic movement and begin to pen the next chapter in their dichotomous musical tale of shimmer and rot. Formidable and magnificent, Godcaster remain the masters of ferocity in our world and any other.”
