Goatess – Goatess (2013)

With a hard-hitting heaviness filled debut release, today we have Goatess and their self-titled offering. Delivering waves of fuzzy guitars painting traditional Doom Metal landscapes, this band grooviness is enough to make them immediately standout from the rest. Svart Records surprises us again with a very energetic and refreshing release that will rattle your speakers for weeks to come.

In a similar vein to bands like Sleep and other Sludgy Doom Metal outfits, Goatess opens this release with the warm and fuzzy “Know Your Animal”. Focusing on incisive riffing and strange psychedelic elements, tracks like “Alpha Omega” sound weirdly familiar but catchy enough to enjoy more than a few times, hundreds of times to be precise. With Chritus Linderson (Saint Vitus, Count Raven) on vocals, this band has all the right ingredients to satisfy the legions of demanding fans of the genre.

Other songs like the groovy “Full Moon at Noon”, give out a vibe similar to Occult/Psychedelic Rock bands like Kadavar, but with a hefty dosage of traditional Doom distortion. There are also some pretty cool experimental instrumental sections that elevate the band’s creativity to new heights and keep their music quite fresh. The two-part epic “Oracle” is by far the band’s most ambitious and gracefully elaborate track in this release. Switching from trippy atmospheric sections on the first part, to more defined and hard hitting powerful riffs on the second part, this song is near perfect.

The band is not afraid to go more traditional on slow and painful tracks like “King One”, showcasing their ability to deliver the fundamentals of the genre on the band’s own terms. There are some cool Black Sabbath-esque influences here and there that give the band’s sound a bigger retro appeal for the nostalgic crowd. Closing with the hypnotic “Tentacles of Zen”, the band does a great job in mixing in some cool percussions with the heavy distorted guitars and underlying sense of melody they show throughout this excellent release.

Overall, Goatess is one hell of a ‘new comer’ that will surely take the scene by surprise. Having already played in staple events like Doom Shall Rise, this band surely has a bright and promising future ahead of them. If you enjoy Doom Metal with a bit of a different twist to it, you will surely love this brilliant debut release.

Label: Svart Records

Release: July 5th, 2013

Genre: Doom Metal

Country: Sweden