Goatess - Goatess

Artist: Goatess

Album: Goatess

Label: Svart Records

Genre: Stoner, doom

Release Date: July 5^th 2013

Goatess are 4 Swedes, with tons of experience in doom metal (Saint Vitus, Lord Vicar). With the band Goatess (originally Weekend Beast, showing how much they initially saw this as a side project), these gentlemen go beyond the definition of doom metal, into doom-infused, stoner-like, totally-rocking sounds.

With their debut release Goatess, these Swedes have found their own sound in a mixture of doom and stoner, resulting in slow rock music with hints of psychedelia. Altogether, Goatess does not at all sound like a revival band, but instead have a very modern twist to their music. They have clearly learned from old school doom (Black Sabbath, Candlemass), but they did not just decide to reproduce this sound. Instead, they are bringing cross-over doom/stoner that sounds very fresh. Overall, Goatess is a very solid and innovative release.

The album starts with classic doom and stoner sounds, with the second track “Alpha Omega” sounding very much like Ozzy and Black Sabbath, but with a sleazy stoner cool to it – say, as cool as a cat prowling out at night. In “Full Moon At Noon”, a goth feeling is brought into the album, with something that smells like Type O Negative.

Towards the second half of Goatess, the sound becomes more experimental. “Oracle Pt 1:The Mist” is a slow, atmospheric track (think Opeth) with hints of subtlety as we know it from My Dying Bride. “King One” clocks in at over 10 minutes and combines great sound effects with a pitch-dark atmosphere. After the mid-track break, the song build up from a slow part, with plaintive guitar work and howling vocals filled with despair. Add a splash of 70s rock music in there, and it makes for a brilliantly layered track.

The final track of Goatess is a universe of itself. “Tentacles of Zen”, as the masterpiece is named, starts with the voice-over of a horror B-movie ranting on about copulation on a cosmic scale (see the link to the cover art that shows us the birth of Pan). Again, the influence of Black Sabbath is clear, but in a distorted way – as if we hear Sabbath from afar, while being on a bad trip. The soundscape of “Tentacles of Zen” is completed with eastern influences, as if Ravi Shankar popped his head around the corner.

Let me be clear: you don't have to be a fan of doom or stoner to enjoy Goatess. Their music has a gazillion of aspects and surprises that will leave you wanting to listen to the album, over and over again.

Buy Goatess - Goatess