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GOATPSALM “Beneath”
GOATPSALM “Beneath”
By Dr. Abner Mality
The mysterious GOATPSALM describe their sound on “Beneath” as “dark ritual ethnic doom”. Amazingly enough, that does describe what we hear to a T. This is a record very much influenced by the occult ways of voodoo (or Vodun, as it is sometimes known). It reeks of Baron Samedi and the other loa worshipped by the followers of voodoo. It’s doom with a difference.
It kind of falls apart at the end, when they take the ambient side of their music a bit too far, but this is a cool and intriguing listen for the most part. It really is split evenly between rhythm heavy voodoo music, foreboding doom metal and creepy ambient atmosphere. The doom parts are heavy and fairly orthodox, with a lumbering ELECTRIC WIZARD meets early SABBATH kind of sound. This is best heard on “Heart of Damballah Wedo”, “Spit Soil” and the first six minutes of “Exequies”. The guitars crunch, the drums boom and the vocals growl and mutter.
It’s the ritual part of “Beneath” that is the most intriguing. Opening intro “Veves of Smoke and Rum” sets the scene with what sounds like the beginning of a voodoo ceremony. Part of this overlaps with “Heart of Damballah Wedo” and “Spit Soil”, but it really reaches its apex on “Kalbas Whispers of Death”. This is driven by insistent, powerful drumming but what makes it cool are those weird bass plucks and the droning synth in the background. This really is the kind of music that can induce a trance. A houngan (voodoo priest) whispers his invocations as well, adding to the weirdness.
The centerpiece of the album is the 17 minute plus “Exequies”. I don’t know what’s gotten into the water, but recently a lot of bands have been going overboard with bloated tracks and this one is no different. It takes a lot to sustain interest for a song this long. The first six minutes or so is powerful doom metal. After that, it drops off into a meandering 10 minutes plus of what sounds like a cartoon character on half speed and a jug of cough syrup moaning voodoo incantations. This was unnerving for about the first four minutes, then it just goes on and on and finally peters out in a prolonged stretch of silence. It’s just plain monotony. Sometimes that can induce a ritual state. Most times it induces slumber. Something stronger was needed as a climax.
“Beneath” is an interesting doom album from a band that doesn’t put out much material. Pick it up if voodoo ritual doom catches your fancy.
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