From Wales in the UK comes Goat Major, a hard-hitting doom act who are presenting their second album Ritual, a collection of eight new occult-driven thumpers certain to get the blood pumping of any heavy music fan. "Snakes (Goddess of the Serpent)" sets the stage from the opening riff, a dark, meaty platter of ominous sounds and vocals that remind of a cross between vintage Layne Staley and Ozzy Osbourne. The title track completely crushes, the riffs enormous, and I'm instantly reminded of Alice in Chains' classic Dirt album, though this is even heavier. "Turn to Dust" adds in some old-school Sabbath as well as Soundgarden, while the bulldozing "Light at the End" simply reminds me of why I love this sort of thing in the first place...menacing atmosphere, massive riffing, and haunting vocals. "Mountains of Madness" is the big epic-length song on the album at just over 8-minutes, and it's a good one, perhaps a bit faster than most of the others, while "Evil Eye" is slow, punishing, and as doomy as it gets.
Chalk up another winner from the Ripple Music label...if you love doom, this one's a no-brainer!
Track Listing
1.
Snakes (Goddess of the Serpent) 04:57
2.
Ritual 05:14
3.
Turn to Dust 04:19
4.
Light of the End 06:29
5.
Powers That Be 03:46
6.
Mountains of Madness 08:08
7.
Evil Eye 06:41
8.
Lay Me Down 02:10
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