Goatsnake, BIG|BRAVE, YDI

Los Angeles, California's Goatsnake are back in a big way — having recently released Black Age Blues (Southern Lord), their first full-length album in fifteen years, the band have also spent the summer touring across Europe, and are about to embark on a run of dates across the West Coast.
Black Age Blues features the familiar faces of Greg Rogers (The Obsessed, Sonic Medusa) on drums, Greg Anderson of Sunn O))) taking care of the riffs, Pete Stahl (Scream, Wool, Earthlings?) on vocals, and bassist and Cape Fear North Carolina legend Scott Renner (Brickbat, Sourvein, Sonic Medusa). Production credits for the record are attributed to Nick Raskulinecz, united with Goatsnake again after producing the band’s previous album in 2000, Flower Of Disease. Goatsnake serve a menacing cut of time-honoured ultra-heavy rock they are infamous for.
Goatsnake began life in 1996, when Greg Anderson upped sticks from his native Seattle and relocated to the warmer climes of Los Angeles. Leaving behind his previous band Engine Kid, for whom he played guitar and sang vocals (their 1995 album, Angel Wings, remains a gem in the Revelation Records catalogue), Anderson landed on his feet in LA, aligned himself with the recently freed-up rhythm section of The Obsessed (Greg Rogers and Guy Pinhas), discovered a kinship with vocalist Pete Stahl (Scream, Wool, Earthlings?), and together they formed a new band. Ultra-heavy, down-tuned and with a lot of soul soaked blues, Goatsnake's sound may have seemed in stark contrast to the dark, post-hardcore sound of Anderson's previous work. In retrospect, this stylistic teething served to create even more depth and texture found in the uncharted waters of their first releases in 1998.
The Man Of Light and The Innocent/VI 7”s (the latter of the two laying claim to being the very first Prosthetic Records release) were followed in 1999 by their debut album, Goatsnake Vol.I, a record rocking enough to live up to its tastefully vulgar artwork. Harking to a time before metal’s suffocating extremity, Goatsnake’s unabashed hard rock delivered satisfaction in spades, Pete Stahl’s calm yet impressively capable vocals forming the tightest of handshakes with the doom-flecked instrumentation.
In the three years following, the band saw changes to their lineup, welcoming Burning Witch (whom Goatsnake released a split for Hydra Head with) bassist Stuart Dahlquist in to the fold as Guy Pinhas departed to join Acid King, and the four released 2000’s Flower Of Disease. Due to commitments with other bands and outside of music, Goatsnake re-surfaced briefly with 2004’s Trampled Under Hoof EP, but it wouldn’t be until the Thorr’s Hammer 2009 Supersonic Festival appearance that the members would plot something of a comeback. An appearance at Roadburn in 2010 confirmed the band as live and kicking, and prestige shows left fans salivating for another dose from the heavy rockers — denied until this point...


BIG|BRAVE flow like heavy water, "moving the rocks and the stones" in their path. The two guitars and drums yield a simplistic intensity, painting vivid images of desperation with thunderous distortion and disjointed rises and falls in melodic noise. It is a storm of intimacy, tempered by soft, passionate vocals that coat the chaos.


This band, whose name is pronounced "Why Die?", released one great single in 1983. The A Place In the Sun 7" was released by the band as Blood Bubble Records #1. Musically, this band had more in common with the tough skinhead sounds of Detroit and Boston than the lighthearted skatecore most of their Philly peers played. In songs like "Mad at the World," singer Jackal rips through lyrics like "Look into my eyes and see / I'm not normal you can believe / Savage fury, uncontrollable rage / I'm gonna put you in the grave." One interesting thing about YDI is that although playing a genre of music often associated with sketchy racial politics, both Jackal and drummer Howard were black. In "Categorized," the lead track on Side B, Jackal barks "Prejudiced eyes look upon me / Judge me by sight, take away my rights / Not knowing what I'm like or what I can do / I'm stuck with a label till the day I die." The band also dropped two fine tracks for the Philly compilation LP Get Off My Back with crazies like FOD, McRad, and Autistic Behavior.