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Goatess, Goatess: Copulation on a Cosmic Scale

Posted in Reviews on June 27th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

No doubt some preconceived notions about what Goatess do will stem from their being fronted by vocalist Christian “Chritus” Linderson, whose work in bands like Count Raven, Saint Vitus and Lord Vicar precedes him in the form of a reputation for straight-up traditional doom. And in part, that’s what Goatess, which is the debut album by Goatess on Svart Records, has on offer, but the four-piece is by no means limited to that sphere. Begun as a project called Weekend Beast for Chritus and guitarist Niklas, the eight-track, 67-minute long-player has plenty of plodding Sabbath-ery, but there are also some light touches of psychedelia in the guitar and an undercurrent of stonerly grooving that comes through in bits and pieces along the way. Linderson proved himself able to handle more rocking material over the course of Terra Firma‘s two full-lengths, and though Goatess never quite hit that same level of straightforward heavy rock, the experience shows itself in the variety of the singer’s approach to the cuts here. The cuts themselves vary in kind, with Niklas, bassist Findus and drummer Kenta keeping a consistent vibe while making subtle changes in their sphere of influence that reveal themselves more with repeat listens. Strong leadoff tracks “Know Your Animal” and “Alpha Omega” are no more pretentious than they should be, and Goatess closes out with an effective complementing pair of songs that expands both the runtime — “King One” and “Tentacles of Zen” topping 10 and 11 minutes in succession — and the creative scope of Goatess in general, resulting in an album that makes for a richer experience than it or its Born Again-esque cover art would seem to indicate.

That Black Sabbath reference is the first of several. Long before “Tantacles of Zen” splits at its halfway point to a well-percussed, Eastern-flavored psychedelic jam complete with bleating goat sample, Linderson peppers the changes in “Alpha Omega” with Ozzy-style “alright now!”s and moves between a semi-spoken delivery and bluesier shouts that remind of a more organic version of the moody sensibility that shows up on the doom progenitors’ 2013 outing, 13. As these songs came together over the course of the last several years and as Goatess is released concurrent to 13, it would be inappropriate to assume new Sabbath is an influence, but old Sabbath certainly is, and it shows up in a modern context, so as much as Sabbath were trying to sound like themselves on that album, Goatess are trying to sound like them too, and they’re succeeding. Niklas proves a more than able riffer by the time the 7:45 opener “Know Your Animal” is over, starting out with a single riff that reminds of something from Ghost‘s Opus Eponymous before moving into open-sounding drums and a fuller-toned payoff chorus. True to the style, Findus‘ basslines are the subtle foundation on which the songs rest, and that’s as try of “Know Your Animal” and “Alpha Omega” as it is the rest of the album. The opener has the strongest hook, Linderson namechecking the title Never Say Die as the band moves through the chorus, and Goatess are underway with a strong groove that’s upheld and expanded over the course of subsequent tracks, which — if you were going to divide the album up for a double-LP release, would come in pairs on each side; “Know Your Animal” and “Alpha Omega” on side A, “Ripe” and “Full Moon at Noon” on side B, the shorter “Oracle Pt. 1: The Mist” (a paltry 4:40) and “Oracle Pt. 2” on side C and “King One” and “Tentacles of Zen” on side D.

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