For a band that takes their cues from the oft-imitated occult rock bands of the sixties and seventies like Coven, Black Widow and Pentagram, Year Of The Goat sound very fresh. Fusing the melodic proto-doom sound with catchy hooks and topping it off with a crisp and modern production gives these melancholic metallers a little something extra to bring to the doom table.
‘Of Darkness’ is a catchy opener with sumptuous guitar work and sing-along-lyrics delivered in a style that is somewhere between Rob Halford and Ville Valo. But it is on ‘Vermillion Clouds’ that the band really opens up for an epic eight-minute masterpiece of rhythm driven doom embellished once again by a flurry of memorable guitar riffs and sing-a-long vocals. Next up is a cover of the Sam Gopal song ‘The Dark Lord’, which gives the band a chance to really crank everything up and let loose with some heavier guitar work and show off their harder edge. Closing the album is the short and sweet ‘Lucem Ferre’, which gives a little progressive instrumental flair to the band.
Year Of The Goat have all the tools here to be a big name in the doom scene. This little EP is packed with potential, and all the band needs to do now is capitalise on it with an album full of songs as good as these.
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Sean M. Palfrey
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