[Release date 08.12.17]
Hailing from Stoke-on-Trent, Goya are a bit like a progressive/stoner Stoke City – fans that love them, love them but a lot won’t like the stuff they play.
That said, and with all the usual trepidation of approaching an instrumental progressive rock E.P., you know something – this ain’t bad at all. If your bag is contemplative, Rush-style intensity with all the associated tempo changes and feedback-smudged, crashing riffology, this four track EP checks in at a rousing 32 minutes – which is as much as you get from a full album by some these days.
But, not in prog – oh no, siree – the highlight is the 12-plus minute masterpiece “Venenatus” – an absolute colossus of a track kicked off by its faux-scary, nursery rhyme intro which literally slams like a car crash into its gloom-mongering, thundering backbone riff and then dissipates into a slow Floyd-type few breather bars.
Then, with that feeling like you’re winding up to the top of a roller-coaster and the inevitable decent, the track (not even half way through yet) launches again into that crushing riff before getting all space-jammy and out there and then peacefully winds its way to a masterful acoustic coda. Heineken has never bothered looking Bohemian Rhapsody’s instrumental prog equivalent, but if they did…..what a track this is….strap in tight!!
Opening track “Collider” is the four minute baby track (hey, maybe even the single!) but a furious tour-de-force with a simple and infectious, mesmerizing, riff. Industrial post-prog as a category, anyone?
“Asohka” is a complete lock-in of all that is good in meandering mood metal – part-Maiden midde-eight, part QOTSA frantic thrash-off – builds like an orgasm, this one, with a predictably messy and glorious conclusion. Brilliant stuff.
“Kathmandu”, as the title might suggest, opens with a haunting, eastern vibe, slow-burning into a prog-fest of meaty chords – the perfect soundtrack to an apocalyptic movie.
Apparently, the band don’t think they’re pretentious but have coined the phrase “Absolute Music” for this very effective mish-mash of styles and….they ‘speak through their instruments” ……bit redundant that, since they don’t have a singer. But these guys do literally paint musical landscapes which are as dramatic as they are unpredictable. This debut offering never dropped my attention once and I never yearned for vocals at any point.
If this is the future of progressive rock, I could certainly be turned… ****
Review by Mark “Mad Dog” Shaw
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Power Plays w/c 1 April 2024
NESTOR Victorious (Napalm)
CADET CARTER Strangers (SBAM Records)
ARENA What’s Your Damage (indie)
ONLAP Never Too Late (AFM Records)
BLACK SONIC PEARLS Black Butterfly (indie)
RENDEZVOUS POINT Don’t Look Up (Long Branch Records)
WILDSTREET Come Down (Golden Robot Records)
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09:00-12:00 CIRCLE OF FRIENDS Cherokee Moon (Escape Music)
12:00-13:00 MYRATH Karma (earMUSIC)
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