Release
date: August
15th
2018. Label: Domestic LA LA Records.
Format: DD/Vinyl
Residual
Dread
– Tracklisting
1.Trouble
In The Sewers 05:50
2.Into
The Silver Valley 06:36
3.Nothing
06:00
4.Eye
Juices 04:04
5.Outer
Body 05:29
6.The
Crows Build A Fire In Front Of The Owls' Cave 11:13
Members
Geordie
Stafford - Everything
Review
Prolific
One Man Sludge/Doom Metal musician Geordie Stafford aka Golden Bats
returns with Residual Dread. Parts Doom, Sludge, Stoner and
pitch-black Post-Whatever sounds holding everything together. Golden
Bats have adopted a more gloomy and bleak feel to their music. As
Residual Dread relies more on Doom Metal compared to his previous
releases.
That’s no bad thing as Golden Bats creates a heavy psychedelic sound with progressive layers of Sludge Metal and harsh vocals to match.
Opening
track – Trouble In The Sewers – is a gloomy and dirty offering
that sees Geordie shout his way through a barrage of harsh and pissed
off growls that leave you with quite an uncomfortable feeling. The
music on the other hand can be quite hopeful at times especially when
the psychedelic post-rock/post-metal sounds appear. This is a good
style of music to hear on the album. You don’t hear it much times
but it does show that Golden Bats aren’t all DOOM AND GLOOM on the
album.
Second
track – Into The Silver Valley – has elements of Neurosis running
through it’s pitch-black cold heart. As this song is one of the
gloomiest and heaviest songs on the album. The guitars have a slight
NOLA dirge ridden sound that only alienates the listener from the
rest of humanity. The bleak lyrics have a sense of truth and realism
to them. The
Psychedelic Sludge/Stoner Riffs offer a brief sense of hope yet again
but it doesn’t last long as Golden Bats soon return to their
despairing and bleak monolithic heavy sound.
This
album does have a more theatrical occult rock sound compared to
Golden Bats previous other records. I wasn’t a fan of this style of
sound when I first heard the album. However with multiple listens of
the album, I’ve became to admire the brave and weird choices that
Geordie has made with this album including the more theatrical occult
rock vibes.
The
rest of the album follows a similar path as the opening two songs
with Golden Bats laying down heavy progressive Sludge Metal riffs.
Though don’t be surprised when the whole flow of the album changes
into something different and more complex. Nothing and Outer Body are
great examples of this happening on the album.
The
final song - The Crows Build A Fire In Front Of The Owls' Cave – is
perhaps the most daring song of all. As it’s quite epic running
almost 12 mins in length. The song does run out of steam towards the
end but it’s the journey that the song takes you on with more
twisted heavy psychedelic and nightmarish sounds. The music is the
strongest part of this song as the song does move into so many
different directions that you may seem slightly confused by it all.
However I do admire the creativity and complexity of this song above
everything else.
Overall,
Residual Dread is
perhaps Golden Bats
most daring, heaviest
and adventurous album to
date. What more could you possibly want from a Doom/Sludge Metal
album?
Excellent
and Highly Recommended.
Words
by Steve Howe
Thanks to Golden Bats for the promo. Residual Dread is available to buy on Vinyl now from Domestic LA LA Records
Thanks to Golden Bats for the promo. Residual Dread is available to buy on Vinyl now from Domestic LA LA Records
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