Review Summary: King Goat expands the ancestral path of doom towards alternate dimensions.
Nowadays, it’s incredibly difficult for new bands to attract deserved attention to their music. Most of us have developed a feeling of contentedness to rely only on bands that have made a name of themselves to deliver great music to the genre. When we’re stuck in this comfort zone, we fail to notice potential in the new generation of bands to the genre and our general attitude is to ignore them because we’re so content with listening to the same bands that have been going around for decades with the excuse of “no one is ever going to be as good as them”. Surely we’ll never know the result of that statement if we don’t give the new generation a chance?
King Goat is just one band that has the potential to uphold the metal genre with a breath of new ideas and great talent-all with a valued respect for the path their forefathers have laid down. Hailing from Brighton, UK, King Goat is slowly on the rise in the underground scene with their self prophesied ‘progressive doom metal’.
After hearing their debut album “Conduit”, you could argue that ‘progressive’ is a bit of a loose term. The 5 songs that bind “Conduit” feel more broadening than progressive. With an average track length of around 8 minutes, King Goat immediately faces the obstacle of keeping us attentive to their doom ridden music. Luckily, if you are not hooked to the following 42 minutes of “Conduit” then you can only be mesmerised by it. ‘Feral King’ treads down so many twisting paths that such flexible rhythmic structures go beyond the term of progressive. One minute Anthony “Trim” Trimming is leading a parade of stoner grooves with an elated voice then the next he’s dominating the spacey bass with thunderous snarls. ‘Sanguine Path’ follows in the same vein with sprinkles of tremolo picking, throbbing riffs and little scratching noises in the background that give the song an uncomfortable, nightmarish experience.
King Goat’s mission with “Conduit” is to transport us to otherworldly territories. To do this they incorporate a mystical sensation to their music that jumps from vision to vision. The title track begins with high baritone singing that grasps us instantly but then evolves into a tribal tone that covers us in some sort of soporific sonic smokescreen which in turn is pierced by some truly elating female vocals. Further through this lucid dream we experience Mastodon-ian riffs flanked by swirling solos and bracing singing in ‘Revenants’. The mellifluous dynamism of King Goat is what gives “Conduit” such a visionary aspect.
Doom metal can sometimes fall into the pit of it sounding unchanged; King Goat avoids this trap easily. Rather than make an album that repeats the same song five times, they give each track its own identify but use the same tools to craft this product. Slothful instrumentation and Candlemass influenced singing is a prominent feature in this album but there are also unusual increments, like psychedelia and occult in ‘Flight Of The Deviants’, that to stand out to create dexterous songs which are intended to convey lethargy but instead make “Conduit” sound all the more captivating.
Behold the latest torch-bearers of doom metal! All hail King Goat!
