Tag Archives: Atmospheric

Goatess – Purgatory Under New Management (SVART)

Posted by Fraggle on

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Doom is such a wonderful genre. It ranges from the depths of despair with the crushing, monolithic walls of sound which accompany funeral doom to the groove laden, raw and rocking feeling of stoner doom and of course, Black Sabbath’s ‘trinity of doom’ albums from 1971-1973 (Master Of Reality, Volume 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath). The sonic landscape within this genre is vast and there is so much to choose from. Sure, bands like Sleep, Electric Wizard, Saint Vitus, Church Of Misery, Pentagram and other notable names stand out and you can add Goatess to that list.

Formed in 2009 by Vocalist Christus (Christoff Linderson, Lord Vicar, ex-Saint Vitus,) and Guitarist Niklas in Stockholm, the band were conceived with the notion that their music would be more about the ‘power of the riff’ – taking a guitar or bass riff and expanding on it, creating a massive soundscape and atmosphere. The result ended up in their self-titled debut ‘Goatess’, released in 2013 on Svart Records and the best way to describe it would be psychedelic stoner-doom metal. Full of wonderful riffs and captivating and mind bending sounds, this album received high praise and three years later with a slightly changed line up, Goatess return once again to blow our minds. With Purgatory apparently being under new management, let us see how it fares under this new stewardship.

The slow, melodic descending guitar line with a warm and rich bass tone opens up “Moth To Flame” and almost instantly you are sucked into it. The subtle drums give it some slam kind of timing whilst the stringed section slowly encircles you and when Christus’ vocals kick in, everything just transforms. Delivered softly with a real remarkable sound, the vocals combine with the music behind them to create a hypnotic effect. Emotive and expressive, the music slowly begins to build up momentum giving a great feel to it and then it happens… Two minutes in, the riff kicks in as the clean, melodic section reaches its crescendo and to put it bluntly.. Fuck!

The fantastic tone is just something beautiful. Rich fuzz and perfectly balanced, the guitar riff brings the bass and drums to build up more and what results is a full on groove which opens up a new feeling and forces you to surrender yourself to it. With more power behind the vocals this time, they have a real hook to them as Christus’ delivery paints a vivid picture with the music bringing it to life. It’s not heavy as such, but the pounding feel and intensity is massive and you just find yourself caught up in it. Before you know it, you’re at the later stages of the track and the riffs become slightly darker and heavier and a sense of urgency and franticness appears, bringing with it some wild guitar sounds and dramatic, powerful vocals, really shaking it up before it subsides and fades out. What an opening track!!!

Title track, “Purgatory Under New Management” follows next and it starts off with a slow, building drone-like riff under a spoken word sample about the assimilation of paganism into Christianity. As this builds up and sets the scene, the drums and bass come in to build it up some more and the sound of the bass is delightful, clear in the mix and with a great tone! Progressing through the track, it begins to get heavier as the vocals bring the lyrics to life, creating another hypnotic effect over an intricate guitar lead melody and much like the previous track, it builds in intensity and atmosphere before getting more distorted, heavier and intense, resulting in an intricate guitar and drum heavy section to end the track!

With a title which is a clever play on the widely known ‘Murphy’s Law’ which is often the go to explanation for pessimists and realists, “Murphy Was An Optimist” is the next track on this album. Opening up with a real driving feel, the solid riff and drums are accompanied by a booming bassline, creating a steady pulse which is perfect to headbang to whilst the vocals are solid and help push the track on. The riff changes throughout the track, in parts it becomes more melodic for the guitar parts, in others the bassline becomes more melodic but whatever approach it takes, it still maintains that headbanging pulse, the whole idea behind Goatess and their musical vision – create the riff then build the atmosphere around it. Be it the hypnotic feel sections later on in the track or the rumbling and melodic lines earlier on, the simple structure of this track appears so massive because of the little touches the band add to create the atmosphere and the simplistic lead line which ends the song caps it all nicely.

Instrumental track, “Crocodillians And Other Creepy Crawly shh…..” is your typical ‘out there’ moment of the album and not just because of its title. The track consists of a slow, doomy riff which grows in volume and presence, accompanied by a hypnotic wah-laden bassline and steady drums all underneath some samples from a wildlife documentary… Yeah… Anyway, it is hypnotic and captivating. The way the bass’s rich tone and then the intricate clean licks of the guitar combine, it has a real surreal quality to it and as it gets heavier once more, surging and swirling effects really bring it to life, making it the musical equivalent of mushrooms or other hallucinogenic substances!

 

Bringing us back to reality so to speak, “Shadowland” can be described in four simple words – ‘All Hail The Riff!”. With a sound reminiscent of the ‘doomy’ Sabbath era, this track sounds fantastic and would easily fit in with the likes of ‘Sweat Leaf’, ‘Snowblind’ and ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ in the musical department. Vocally, its slightly darker and more ominous to the other tracks and as usual Christus’ delivery brings it all to life. With great timing, excellent delivery and memorable hooks across the track, this is just one to lose yourself in. Round the 3:30 point, we get the iconic ‘lone guitar riff’ moment which leads to a thunderous sounding section which is massive in all elements. Pounding basslines and solid drums lay down a huge sounding foundation for the guitar to freely express itself with a unique solo which has a surreal edge to it before the riffs come back once more.

“Silent War” takes us away from the altar of Iommi and into a spookier place. With a thick basslineand swirling sample, it goes into a real heavy riff underpinned by a steady pulse and coated with a powerful presence. With slightly hazy vocals coming and going between the clear deliveries, it further increases the unease about the track and the solid, chugging riffs give a great groove to it. Round the 5:30 section, there is a huge wah-laden guitar riff which really builds the track up, leading it into a huge sounding section. With a rich and boomy bassline, great vocal work, captivating drums and hypnotic guitar lines, it keeps you in its trance before a real slick and delightful guitar solo blows you away, giving the track a real magical edge.

“Wrath Of God” is the penultimate track and it will consume you. With a rich sounding clean intro laced with a melodic quality, the guitars ring out wonderfully whilst the bassline drives it on and the intricate drum patterns lock it all down to a steady pace. It picks up as the vocals come in and round the 2:20 part, we get a big kick as the distorted section comes in with a real thick sound but it isn’t as overpowering as you would anticipate. Going back to the clean sound, it gets hypnotic once again and as expected, it distorts once more, bringing in a real headbanging feel section before the vocals trail off as a melodic guitar lead takes over. Shifting once more, a hypnotic wah-laden bass heavy section follows with subtle vocals and here is where reality starts to slip away. A clean lead is accompanied by ‘Ahhh’ like backing vocals and subtle synths which all create a fantastic and epic sound and atmosphere. From here, it’s just a case of sit back and enjoy as the leads guide you through to another distorted section, backed up and in places, augmented by the backing vocals and synth, it hits with real power and honestly, this track right here is the best way to describe why you need this album!

Closing the album is “Good Moaning” and it’s back to a more groove-orientated feel. With its heavy, steadily thumping rhythm section and muted guitar chugs, it has a powerful edge which is only amplified by the enticing vocal delivery. Changing feel slightly, the riff alters the pace of the track and switches it to a pounding feel before shifting back again, all the while retaining its thunderous feel and delivery, giving it a real heavy sound. Constantly riddled with subtle changes, it keeps flowing smoothly and draws the album to a close.

Overall, this is a phenomenal release. Laden with great riffs, captivating and hypnotic sensations, a massive sound and atmosphere which just takes you away and blows your mind, Goatess have managed to create a masterpiece here which ranks up there with the best of them. Purgatory is under new management and if this is any indication, Purgatory sounds like a wonderful place to visit! Even though we’re only in the first half of the year, Goatess could very well have released album of the year!

(10/10 Fraggle)

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Seer – “Volume 1 & 2” (Art Of Propaganda)

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Seer are a doom band with some serious sludge and psychedelic influences. Hailing from the Pacific coast of Canada, the sound the guys come out with is just as massive as the expanse they hail from. A two-part release, Volume 1 & 2 promises a surreal journey through the vast expanse with some serious sonic landscapes to traverse and many challenges to whether ranging from intense to heavy to ominous and discomforting. Perhaps named in tribute to the guys who started it all, Black Sabbath, Seer are certainly ready to unleash something special and with a raft of guest musicians to make this possible, we can only hope the two parter makes one complete piece.

Opening up with “Glimmervoid”, a wall of colossal sounding riffs backed up with some booming bass kicks things off and the slightly hazy, spaced out vocal delivery gives it a real ominous and surreal edge. Shifting into a fantastic groove laden section, the vocals get harsher, taking a real sludge-like edge to them before it quickly slips into the powerfully delivered chorus. The ‘bouncy’ feeling riff with a great tone and clean vocals once again come in, changing the pace slightly, and this approach continues throughout the track, slipping from slow paced to thick and heavy groove, clean and trippy singing to real harsh roars. It’s a simple exploit of dynamics, but it works fantastically. As the track continues, it gets heavier and there are some wonderful sounding riff sections and some real heavy pounding moments, all leading up to a dramatic and intensely heavy ending which eases off into some howling feedback to draw the track to a close.

“Hive Mind” is a steady paced, dissonant feeling and huge sounding track. With a melodic lead over a pulsing drone-like rhythm, it has a hypnotic quality to it. The clean hazy vocals return and as they float across the riffs, the rich and booming bass really shines, acting almost as a counter melody to the vocal progression. Guitar-wise, it sounds similar to Sleep’s ‘Dopesmoker’ with the harsh and powerful droning tone and it certainly hits like it in parts – a huge wall of distorted noise and roared vocals near the mid-section is both captivating and intimidating, very similar to Conan in some ways. Some real filthy riffs round the 4:30 mark lead into a slick solo which brings in a frantic feel which in turn leads to more feedback which acts as the curtain call for part 1 of the release.

The second part, “Volume 2” opens up with “Cosmic Ghost”. With some samples of wind blowing over a vast empty expanse backing up a clean acoustic guitar which has some droning to it, it has a real atmospheric feel to it. The vocals are cleanly delivered with that spaced out edge once again. The added string sections add an extra edge and the spaced out chanting like vocals of the slightly droning acoustic guitar really creates a relaxing feel, even as the distortion subtly begins to creep in halfway through. As the distortion grows, the slow and steady pace with acoustic layering remains, keeping it more restrained than the previous tracks.

“Haunter” opens up with a Sleep styled riff before really kicking in. Massive sounding and almost crushing in the delivery, the thunderous pounding just hammers away at a mesmerizing pace. The hazy vocals are layered just behind the pounding musical onslaught, almost lost in the noise and this mixing trick works to good effect, making you fully immerse yourself in the sonic landscape the track has created just to hear it. Luring you in and taking hold, it puts you under its spell, smothering you with the distortion and the wild almost atonal guitar solo before going into a harmonized riff section which acts as a slight reprieve before it goes more atonal and even heavier, pummeling you with harshness which persists until the end.

“Antibody” is the penultimate track and it has a more Black Sabbath feel to its intro riff. With more of a kick to it but still retaining the heavier edge of Haunter, it powers along with a great headbanging pace, bringing some up-tempo doom styled riffery with some great vocal harsh moments in the right places to really kick it in. With more precise and dissonant sounding leads over thundering rhythms, it embodies chaos whilst still having a solid groove and it sets up for the closing track quite well. “Aeons” brings a dramatic sounding close to the album. Howling wind samples with some atonal sounding chords and bass bring the track slowly in, almost mimicking a bell tolling. Slowly progressing, it has a very unsettling feel to it and this persists throughout. Some small melodic melody lines and heavily effects-laden vocals fade in an out, toying with the listener and keeping them on edge, anticipating the explosion of noise. Except this explosion doesn’t come. Instead it stays like this before slowly trailing off into silence, giving a strange and uneasy end to a strange album.

Overall, “Volume 1 & 2” is a fascinating release. The intensely heavy opening double of Volume 1 brings the intensity and despite some slight dips into this sound in “Volume 2”, the later quadruplet of tracks are more atmospheric and bring a different kind of intensity. One favours noise whilst two favours toying with the senses. Starting off with a harsh and heavy variant of sludge-laden doom, it evolves into a full on psychedelic sludge-doom hybrid which keeps you under its spell for the whole duration of the album. Head on into the Glimmervoid and follow the Seer.

(7/10 Fraggle)

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Anomalie – “Refugium” (Art Of Propaganda)

Posted by Fraggle on

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Anomalie is the project of Austrian Black Metallers Selbstentleibung’s guitarist Marrok. Unlike his main band’s work, Anomalie is more of a Post-Black Metal sounding project. Using the core elements of black metal song writing and structure – blastbeats, pounding rhythms, tremolo picked guitars and harsh vocals which border between scream and rasp at times and most importantly, the art of being able to craft a vast sonic landscape to explore whilst you listen to it. With this being Marrok’s own personal vision, we join him on his journey through a vast spectrum of emotions and states – hope, despair, beauty, bleakness, reality, the surreal, liberation and oppression. With the album name translating to ‘refuge’, let’s see what we could be seeking refuge from.

Opening up with a haunting and atmospheric acoustic tinted progression, “In Fear Of Tomorrow” begins to draw you in. With almost tribal like drum patterns and dramatic sounding tremolo picked distorted lead melodies, it creates a slightly surreal and intense feeling before it kicks in fully with a massive sound. Raw and passionately delivered vocals over a solid rhythm and melodic dark sounding lead riff make for a stunning sound in the verse and this continues to the first major feel change round the three minute point. Here the vocals take on an eerie sound with a softer delivery before a minute later, it explodes into a melodic death metal sound reminiscent of Dark Tranquillity but with black metal overtures in the vein of Ishahn. It’s a stunning opening effort.

“Spiritual Distortion” doesn’t take the easing you in approach however. From the off its pounding and dissonant sounding intro hits you at a steady pace with thunderous force. Picking up the pace a little, the slightly symphonic sounding lead melody adds an extra layer to the sound and has a Borknagar like feel to it. Clever use of clean lead fills add a good touch and more dynamics to the track and the riff sections come heavy and at a decent pace with precise drums, a tight melodic progression and a solid vocal delivery. As it progresses, it slips between a smooth flowing and jarring feel with minimal fuss or momentum lost and the melodic solo towards the end is well composed and has some brilliant phrasings and tone behind it.

“Untouched Walls” keeps the dramatic feel up. With a synth and sample heavy intro, a faint guitar riff comes in which is just about audible, especially when the meaty sounding rhythm guitar section kicks in. The main melodic guitar progression is simple but has a good quality hook to it which keeps it feeling familiar and the subtle vocals which are barely audible in the build up finally come to life with venom and ferocity in their delivery round the 1:30 point. Despite being overly nihilistic sounding, it does have some brighter melodies in it to provide a good contrast to the rhythm and vocal delivery and at times it descends into entropy with a furiously delivered middle section which eventually eases off and ends on a clean, melodic acoustic section which draws the track to a close.

“Between Reality And The World Beyond” brings back the livelier feel with that Dark Tranquillity edge to the sound despite the dark overtures of the track. Once again, the musical delivery is tight. The simplistic progression of the rhythm with the expressive lead melodies which dance across the track add more layers to the sonic landscape Marrok is creating here and it sounds even bigger than what it actually is. With a melodic solo leading the way to a faster feel section, its delivery is spot on. The bass sounds huge and like the rest of the tracks so far, it has a real powerful delivery which certainly gives a good impact and brings that intensity to it in terms of atmosphere and not heaviness or volume. “Solace” slows it down with a heavy chugged rhythm and the slow building lead melody gives a great build up feel so when it does kick in to the pounding rhythm with fast paced riffs and a real thunder to it, it comes across even more venomous. Once again, the simplistic rhythmic structure of the song provides a great backdrop for the dynamic vocal delivery which really dictates the dark feel and the lead guitar melodies which help bring the track to life and the only real intricacies lie towards the end when it shifts into a clean and acoustic progression with a warm sounding distorted lead which fades the track out.

“Leaving Somina” brings back the drama and flair. With a hypnotic acoustic guitar line over a thick chugged distortion and clean, spoken vocals, it builds the anticipation and round the 1 minute mark, it kicks into life with some melodic riffs before it really gets going at the 1:30 point. Faster pace, thicker sounding rhythm and more complex drum patterns really up the heaviness and intensity of the track and as always, the lead melodies augment the rhythmic backdrop brilliantly, giving it a massive sound and feel. With some real powerful vocal displays across the track, this is one of the stand out moments of the album, especially with the acoustic and distorted guitar interplay sections but the ending is the best – a real blackened approach to a mid-90’s In Flames sounding progression with some powerful primal roar like vocals. “Freiflug 48° 23´ N, 16° 19’ O” translates to ‘free flight’ and what I assume to be co-ordinates (A quick look in google isn’t much help but possibly it’s Austria, if any readers crack this, please let me know!). It has a slower, more melodic approach to it with a bright tone which is a welcome change given how dark the majority of the album has been. With multiple layers intricately weaved on top of one another, it has a complicated sound initially but when you focus on the individual parts and not the entire thing, it’s easier to follow. The layers eventually clear up to a stripped back acoustic progression which has a warm sound and very uplifting feel to it but this doesn’t last too long as the distortion kicks in with the harsh vocal screams once more. What is unique though is how despite the heavy sound and style of music, it still maintains its upbeat edge and the rich bassline underneath all this is a delight to take in. With a clean melodic progression adding extra to the scope of the track, it goes near enough totally acoustic round the 4:20 point before a powerful vocal roar soon after snaps it back into the distorted progressions to bring the track to a close.

Closing the album is the title track, “Refugium” and it is an 11 minute epic. From the start you have a sense that this draws the entire album together and you wouldn’t be wrong. The huge hybrid of melodic death metal and black metal composition brings a multi-layered chaotic sound. Blasting drums, rapid fire guitars with that melodic hint to them and powerful bass brings the ferocity once again but as the verse comes in, it slows down. The sound is huge and the vocals are as raw as ever but when it springs back to life again round the 1:46 part, we get one of the best faster paced sections of the album. It has a real melodic hook to the lead progression and this pops up again several times through the track, often preceding or following the shifts to a more black metal sounding section where the chaotic feel comes back once more. Near the halfway point it eases off to a lighter distortion before heavy chugged guitars come back in before the black metal urgency explodes again and at the 6 minute point, there is a fantastic lead melody section which has a great atmosphere building effect and a real rich sounding bassline. As mentioned before, the switches between fast melodic progressions and slower intense heavy progressions continues and round the 9:30 point, the distortion slowly eases off, being replaced by a haunting keyboard based melody and clean sounding ringing guitars which fade out and draw this experience to a close.

Overall, “Refugium” is a fantastic album for a genre of music which is not one of my preferred ones. It takes the core elements of black metal and applies a more progressive slant to them instead of primal and animalistic one, giving a better atmosphere and a different kind of intensity and listening experience to the more traditional black metal bands who are all about harshness, dissonance and grim sounds. With the melodic death metal touches, the blackened metal journey through Marrok’s immersive sonic landscape is an interesting one and even if you aren’t much of a fan of the melodic side of extreme metal, I do recommend checking this out at least once, you may be pleasantly surprised.

(7.5/10 Fraggle)

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