Ok, I am not a great fan of much of the truly heavy doom metal of the past twenty years or so. The focus on riff and improbable vocal shoutings needs to be exceptional to draw me in and very few bands are that.
One of the bands that did appeal to me is the Canadian trio Goat Horn. Yes, they are heavy, riff-laden and create a dark and almost impenetrable veil from the speakers but. But there is a quality to them that I haven’t heard in many bands of their ilk.
One of their main influences is the British band Cathedral whose Doom Metal virtually defined the genre (also Celtic Frost & Venom and , inevitably, Black Sabbath) but they add to that a sense of classic metal and some punk influences and the result is hard and heavy but, ultimately, surprisingly musical.
This set includes all three of their albums – ‘Voyage To Nowhere’, ‘Storming The Gates’ & ‘Threatening Force’- as well as a stack of demos and live tracks and it also includes a brilliant essay by the late Malcolm Dome and the usual pictures of the band.
All too many bands playing Doom Metal just follow the riff and don’t develop the music at all whereas Goat Horn, as raw and dense as they may be, do actually create music that has some sense of structure and, dare I say it, even melody. Going from ‘Voyage …’ to ‘Storming The Gates’ and on to ‘Threatening Force’ you can hear a band developing, moving away from their heroes and finding their own style and personality. Jason Decay (bass & Vocals) voice is clearly becoming a force in its own right while Steelrider’s drums progress from simplistic hammer blows to a much more powerful and rhythmic force and Brandon War’s guitar emerges from the bass riffs of Decay to become a focus of its own.
Much better than the norm, this is a band with an identity and, if you have a leaning to the stronger side of rock, very well worth investigating.
