KING GOAT - Conduit
March 29, 2016, 8 years ago
(Independent)
There’s three things you have to look out for when listening to a doom album – overuse of Sabbathy type riffs, little variation, and a marathon running time. These Brighton doomsters thankfully avoid those pitfalls with this debut full-length. A press release states they’re for fans of “hairy, chest thumping progressive doom”, but it’s ok to be clean-cut like myself to enjoy the muddy lifting of King Goat. And they keep it spry with five songs and doesn’t overstay its welcome.
For a doom album, it’s easy to think the riff work would stand out, but it’s actually vocalist Anthony Trimming. His voice has much flexibility, sounding like the venerable Messiah Marcolin and at the drop of a hat laying down death growls and singing in a lower register. Trimming is the type of a singer that can take a good band into a being a great one; that’s how good he is. Musically, “Conduit” sticks out with some tempo changes and the use of choirs in a magnetic chorus. There are some psychedelic influences at play and some atmospheric takes and really King Goat manages to make the listener stay on its toes for what’s coming up. These guys are out to prove they are not your run-of-the-mill knuckle draggers and I look forward to hear what these guys do in the future.
