Year of the Goat – Lucem Ferre (2011)

Keeping the flam alive of 60’s and 70’s Psychedelic Rock, today we have the Swedes of Year of the Goat and their debut MCD “Lucem Ferre”. In this action packed 4 song release, the band shows their chops at creating dark anthems of pure evil just the right old-school vibe.

With the opening track “Of Darkness”, the band immediately turns back the pages of time and involves you in a magical atmosphere that only very few band’s can achieve these days. The guitars are spot on and the overall pacing of the song is just perfect. The vocals are greatly executed and the layering added provides the typical vibe for the genre.

In “Vermillion Clouds” the band again builds up momentum quite nicely and makes this eight minute epic a true dark anthem. The vocals transmit emotions very effectively and drive the music to new heights. Slowly building momentum, this track is the most diverse and nicely crafted out of this MCD.

Year of the Goat’s cover of Sam Gopal’s “Dark Lord” song is very effective and while the singer is not as good as Lemmy’s (Motorhead) the overall ambiance of the song is spot on. The song “Lucem Ferre” closes of the release with a mystical instrumental that effectively ends the flow of the release and leaves us wanting more.

In the last few months we have been receiving quite a few releases that have this occult/psychedelic vibe, but only a handful are as good as Year of the Goat. In this short MCD the band leaves us wanting more, and until then we have to settle for the great releases of The Devil’s Blood and Ghost. If you are a new found fan of the genre, or you are just stumbling into it, you should not miss this great release.

Release: May 6th, 2011

Country: Sweden