I remember going to gigs of a band with the same name back in South Africa 25-30 years ago, before they changed from a Christian death metal band to a hard rock band called Carpet Crawlers. Well, it would appear that bassist/guitarist Vicente J. Payá & vocalist Amón López were in the Spanish version in Mallorca at the same time. Having previously released 4 albums, this EP starts with one new song and continues with re-recordings of four songs from earlier releases.

“Don’t Waste Your Life” is slow & doomy with rich deep vocals & death growls, chugging guitar riffs & Andrew Spinosa’s booming bass over the steady drums. Amón’s vocals go from soft & slow to menacing growls in an instant while the operatic female choral accompaniment.

Filled with lead guitar breaks by Vicente & Samuel Morales, “Helpless” jumps from gentle acoustic passages to melodic distorted riffs as drummer Tomeu Crespí keeps a slow, steady tempo with rapid footwork used during the heavier choruses.

Feeling slow but really heavy with a bit of an upbeat tempo, “I Am Lost” also has a beautiful string arrangement that complements both the whispered & death vocals perfectly.

A mournful piano piece opens “Elemental Changes” before the guitars & drums come in to add depth to the misery and at first Amón’s vocals are deep & full of melancholic emotion but approach hoarse cries as the song continues & the anguish is released.

More piano, and a tolling bell make way for lumbering guitar riffs & plodding drum rolls on “Lonely”, but when the song gets into full stride it moves along more briskly with length drawn out growls of fury over angelic sounding guitars. Definitely harking back to the early 90’s doom death which I fell in love with, & easily my favourite song on the EP.

A thoroughly enjoyable 30 minutes, of which a third is the final track & a great way to introduce the band to those of us that have never heard them before.

(8/10 Marco Gaminara)

https://www.facebook.com/GolgothaOfficialBand

https://golgotha.bandcamp.com/album/remembering-the-past-writing-the-future