ninehertz

Space Goat Records are a new record label from Denver and this is their first release – a six-track two-way split between Erosions and Psalm, both plying healthy doses of stoner and doom but from different ends of the genre spectrum.

Erosions are up first, from Illinois. A monster sleaze riff barges its way into your personal space immediately, spirited doom abetted by a raucous vocal. It has an aptly loose and imprecise delivery which only just holds things together, creaking a little at the seams, but generally manages, before it goes darker and heavier as the guitar packs a serious crunching bite. Their side only gets better too, from the raw stoner garage of Too Many Deaths, that brings favourable Nebula recalls, to the joyful boisterous fuzzy tones of Homegrown.

Psalm are from Las Vegas and approach this world through a more trad doom lens. It is a lesser spotted sound nowadays, and often merely seen in bands harking back to times past. To their credit and my slight surprise, Psalm manage to bring a freshness to it, through melodic and overcast sound. This may not be my cup of tea in the wide world of doom, but there’s a lot to like, especially in the chuggy old school riff within Pain.

Split releases commonly provide a thrill that’s hard to explain, often due to the discovery where you only know one (or, as here, none) of the bands prior, but there is something more to it – the spirit of kinship that obviously played a part in its creation that shines through. This provides a window into two previously unknown bands, now to be followed with interest.