Greengoat – A.I.
Greengoat – A.I.
Self-released
Release date: 26/01/2024
Running time: 38:00
Review by Alun Jones
8.5/10
Opening with a Bladerunner-style synth led track that features a spoken word delivery of Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, is a bold (and different) move for a Stoner/Doom band. In a genre where, thematically, we’re usually content to contemplate the joys of weed consumption and the mysteries of the occult – usually via a 1970s Hammer Horror aesthetic – this sci-fi launching point is a welcome breath of fresh air.
This is where we enter the album “A.I.” by Spanish doomsters Greengoat. It’s a great band name, and one that harks back to those pot and patchouli, candles and Peter Cushing tropes we’re used to. But ‘The Void’ takes us on a different tangent, with the Rutger Hauer voice over. Second track ‘The Seed’ takes this mellow intro and runs with it, till 30 seconds in – yes, it’s big fat chunky riff time! And what a big, fat chunky riff it is – slow and grinding, developing an irresistible groove with the drums dropping in, eventually exploding into a full force rocker.
The line-up of singer/guitarist Ivan Flores and drummer Ruth “Kalypso” Moya invoke a moody soundscape that borrows from spacey, harmonic passages of Pink Floyd and adds crunchy hard rock. It’s a euphoric concoction as the music builds. And oh, how it builds…
A more traditional stoner groove pervades the other songs on the album, with groovy riff workouts showcased across tracks like the head-nodding, tripped out title track and the fuzzy, Fu Manchu-like ‘Burn the End’.
Throughout the album, Greengoat weld together a progressive, futurist theme with some good, old fashioned, retro Sabbath style rockin’. “A.I.” will no doubt entwine itself around my conscious all the more as I play it in the weeks to come. This is a fine album with great ideas – the analogue age and the digital age tentatively strolling forward together.
TRACKLISTING
01. Void
02. The Seed
03. A.I.
04. Human
05. Awake
06. Naraka I
07. Naraka II
08. Burn the End
LINE-UP
Ivan Flores – guitar/vocals
Ruth “Kalypso” Moya – drums
LINKS
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