Metal, in its essence, should be all about breaking conventions and pushing boundaries. Bristol’s Super Goliath are well aware of this, and on their début album ‘Destroyer Destroy Destroyed’ they haven’t just torn up the rule book – through sheer sonic pummelling they’ve reduced the rule book to mere subatomic debris and let it blow away in the soundwaves.
Let’s take a look at the statistics: The band have only two members (Ryan on drums and G on guitar), their music is completely lacking vocals of any kind, and their “album” is one single 36 minute track, recorded live in the studio. Already Super Goliath have bucked pretty much every trend imaginable, and that’s before a single second of ‘Destroyer…’ has bled from the speakers.
Kicking off with a sparse, drums-only intro, the album takes a couple of minutes to lull you in before the first of many tower block-levelling riffs arrives. Doom, drone and sludge are the name of the game here, so don’t come into ‘Destroyer…’ expecting anything above a slow crawl as far as pace is concerned. This is not a record to blast at a party, but it is a record to blast nonetheless.
As with pretty much any band whose sound can be traced back to the dawning of time for doom metal (i.e. Black Sabbath), volume is your friend when experiencing Super Goliath. The guitar tone on this record is sublime – a deep, warm, resonating buzz that, if given the correct stereo set-up, should be capable of liquidising your internal organs and boiling the pink goop that’s left. The skilful and understated drumming also plays a huge part – always driving but never showy, keeping pace and underpinning the riffing perfectly.
There are moments of light amongst the shade, but conventionally pretty this is not. There are passages that resemble early Pelican – particularly around the album’s 14-minute mark – that showcase a more hopeful, epic sound before the bottom drops out and you’re sent lurching back into the tar pits again.
There are numerous peaks and troughs throughout ‘Destroyer…’s running time, the band gracefully shifting from one section to the next without ever sounding disjointed. The fact that this works as a single continuous piece of music is a credit to the band’s craft – these are clearly men who have a fine ear for a riff, and know exactly when and how to use them to best effect. The dynamic nature of the album is welcome and ensures that it never sinks into a repetitious dirge, something a great many doom and drone bands fall foul of.
In ‘Destroyer Destroy Destroyed’, Super Goliath have crafted a burly, muscular debut that will hopefully land them some much deserved attention and get them into venues big enough to handle their monstrous sound.
JAMES LEE