Goatriders Sign to Urskog Records; Season of Slumber Coming Soon
I was lucky enough to catch wind of Goatriders for their second album, Traveler (review here), in 2022, and I remember being struck by how much more nuanced the band’s sound was than their name implied. There’s nothing wrong with the moniker, per se, but it’s kind of straight-up stoners-calling-stoners, and the Swedish outfit immediately had more going on in terms of the actual music than that. Four years later, their signing to Urskog Records and announcing the advent of their third album, Season of Slumber, gives me hope that that continues to be the case.
The label posted copious background, which is useful, and though I don’t see a release date as yet, the preliminaries here are worth digging into as they convey the depth to which Goatriders are approaching their work and should be approached.
From socials:
News from the forest: our little funky label child blooms again. Urskog Records presents: Goatriders and βππππ¨π€π£ ππ ππ‘πͺπ’πππ§.β
After years of friendship, shared history and countless adventures through music, art and the strange places creativity can lead, Goatriders now find their place within the Urskog catalogue. Welcome home to the forest, mighty Goats.
‘ππππ¨π€π£ ππ ππ‘πͺπ’πππ§β marks the third full-length chapter in the Goatriders lore, and the beginning of a new journey with Urskog Records.
Goatriders have cultivated a sonic landscape that could only have grown from within these four souls, the result of this particular constellation, this strange and wonderful goaty hivemind of punk spirit, deep musical thinking and collective, goat-eyed instinct. A wild universe shaped through the music, artwork, unbridled imagination and the kind of creative obsession that keeps adding new rooms to a sprawling castle of groove.
Their roots run through the deep trenches of hardcore, death metal and years of musical exploration; their influences and instincts converge into a singular corner of expansive, heavy psychedelic sound. Carrying with them a profound DIY spirit, a clear sense of community and an almost absurdly committed creative drive wrapped in an entirely unassuming exterior.
Every part of the Goatriders universe belongs to the same map: their musical style, the illustrations, the live performances and the mythology growing around them.
The Goatriders mind palace is a place where sound becomes landscape, where riffs become landmarks and where the journey itself becomes part of the discovery. The songs know where they are going, and they simply refuse to accept that there is any reason to arrive early. The Goats seem to share a certain wizardβs understanding that the right moment arrives precisely when it means to.
Goatriders could never be accused of taking the boring road. Thankfully for us, they seem to have packed enough provisions for the bounding, jammy side quests and theyβve invited us all along to join them.
Their music unfolds through shifting terrain, wandering riffs appear like sacred landmarks. Melodies reveal hidden, esoteric paths and extended passages become expeditions where ideas are given room to wander, collide and transform. Somewhere along the way, the hidden door becomes illuminated and beckons you to shed this mortal coil and join the rite of the goat. The strange creatures in the forest are probably on first-name terms with these fellows by now, and likely have some important information to share whilst sitting atop a giant mushroom and uttering incantations in languages yet to be deciphered.
‘ππππ¨π€π£ ππ ππ‘πͺπ’πππ§ β continues the ongoing mythology of Goatriders lore and those pointy hatted Wizards return with soaring riffs, psychedelic movement, sitar and djembe woven into the whole swirling tapestry of heavy rhythm. A sense of adventure runs through every part of the record which is gritty, gorgeous and utterly entrancing. Album number three follows Goatriders into territory where their jams continue to expand, mutate and occasionally threaten to escape their own boundaries before transforming into something entirely new.
On stage, Goatriders unleash the physical force that has always lived beneath their music.
Their performances carry the feeling of a band following the trail in real time, pushing forward with complete trust in each other and a beautiful disregard for standing still. There is precision. There is instinct and there is the unmistakable sensation that everything could briefly escape into the wild before landing exactly where it belongs. The frontman commands a slightly unhinged presence with a certain suavitΓ©, moving through the songs with an addictive derangement that becomes endearingly perfect, precisely because only he could embody it. The guitars and rhythm explode like midnight phosphorescence in the sea, building their lush, flourescent goaty labyrinth around him.
Goatriders trust the strange edges. They live for the weird (so do we) and that brilliant weirdness is precisely what makes it all mind-numbingly rad.
‘ππππ¨π€π£ ππ ππ‘πͺπ’πππ§β will be released through Urskog Records as a beautifully realised physical edition with a full colour gatefold, available in two carefully selected vinyl colour variants alongside a slick, audiophile black version for the purists out there. For even more analogue love, weβve also got a snappy cassette edition on deck.
And of course, only 180 grams of the finest wax, all the time.
This is why Urskog exists: to document music with history, magic and rare spirit. Releases where the artwork, the imagination and the soul behind the music remains pressed not only into those waxy grooves, but imaginations, hearts and minds for eternity.
We are honoured to bring βππππ¨π€π£ ππ ππ‘πͺπ’πππ§β into the world and to expand the Urskog-iverse with the sounds and stories from these brilliant, goaty gentlemen. More details soon!
Thank you for your interest, enthusiasm and support, all the love youβve shown our little label child is supremely important to us. Weβre in full Swedish summer sun-worship up here and weβre sending you a little of that magic wherever you are.
With love from us out here in the forest. π«Άπ²
https://goatriders.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/goatridersinspace/
https://www.facebook.com/goatriders/
https://urskogrecords.com/
https://linktr.ee/urskogrecords
https://urskogrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/urskogrecords/
https://www.facebook.com/p/Urskog-Records-61571664538393/
