Oh, tricksy editor! Coming blurry of eye off a night shift I had a quick scan of his message offering me a couple of albums to review, and I went, “Monster Truck, excellent”, being a fan as I am of that four piece and their Hammond organ driven sound. Nope, he had correctly assessed my level of consciousness and instead of Canadian hard rock I had agreed to some French stoner care of Goatfather. Well, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, and this particular Gallic lemonade has a rather familiar, sweet, herbal flavour about it to be sure.
Opening with a quote from the 1978 Sam Peckinpah movie of the same name, and fans of Orange Goblin will recognise Kriss Kristofferson’s legal micturition growl for sure, ‘Convoy’ opens ‘Monster Truck’ beat for beat where the band’s prior release ‘Hipster Fister’ left off, with a fuzzy bass and laissez-faire delivery suggesting the band had partaken heartily of whatever untaxed bourbon said convoy had been smuggling. This is followed by the Southern rock tinged ‘Punish The Punisher’, the bounce of the music being complimented by vocals that are 50% the growl of a latter day Hetfield and 50% the pained bellow of Planet of Zeus’s Babis; indeed, these Lyon residents must surely have more than a little in common with their Greek cousins, clearly being influenced by the same musical forebears.
‘Blood of My Brother’ follows with a laconic beat at odds with the dark tale told by the lyrics, the closing guitar feedback bleeding into the following title track that is threaded through with a thumping beat like the throbbing engine of the eponymous juggernaut, creating a number that took me back to the early days of The Almighty and Zodiac Mindwarp, a real foot stomper to accompany the sinking of your favourite beverage in a sweaty cellar club where despite the temperature the wearing of denim and leather was obligatory. ‘Don’t Give Up’ develops the engine roar guitar sound, whilst ‘Mile After Mile’ continues the road based theme of the album with a confident swagger, before ‘In Your Face’ tells a classic tale of love of metal and hatred of false metal fans; indeed, to acknowledge the mission status of their first album, Goatfather would seem fixated on fisting some hipsters. The album closes with the smoky distorted crawl of ‘Shelter’, albeit my download had a “hidden” acoustic verse popping up after a few minutes of silence, a bonus addition of possibly a rehearsal.
If you are the sort of musical adventurer who is always on the hunt for a new and unique sounds to discover, well, you won’t find that care of Goatfather on ‘Monster Truck’. Instead, you will find a solidly crafted array of familiar but nevertheless satisfying tracks. An analogy I keep coming back to is that of sinking your favourite pint: yes, it may be something you experienced hundreds of times before, but it is still at the same time fulfilling, entertaining, and damnably pleasurable.
(7.5/10 Spenny)
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