King Potenaz – Goat Riders

 

 

King Potenaz – Goat Riders
Argonauta Records – 2023
Stoner, Doom, Metal, Rock, Proto
Rated: *****

We mentioned their damn cool self-titled demo back in June of 2022 during a Quick Fire Friday session, and we of course must mention their debut full sized album as well now! For the album entitled Goat Riders, starts of with the two tracks of that June 2022 Demo, but most importantly, because the power trio from the south of Italy is exactly the kind of stoner rock we all fell in love with in the first place! Yes, we’re talking about King Potenaz, and their sound, which will surely remind you of Kyuss from time to time, as well as some doom legends of yore. It hits the absolute sweet spot when it comes to stoner rock and doom. And the fact they perfectly marry those two sides of the heavy underground with each other, makes King Potenaz righteous rulers. Born out of a series of jam sessions in 2019 in Fasano, Apulia, Italy, King Potenaz began to write their own music by drawing heavily on the work of doom/stoner bands like Sleep, Electric Wizard, Kyuss, Monster Magnet and, of course, Black Sabbath. After a change on drums, the lineup solidifies into the current power trio formed by Giuseppe (guitar and vocals), Francesco (bass guitar) and Piero (drums and synths). Longtime friends and musicians, they are active in the local heavy/underground scene since the nineties. Giuseppe and Francesco initiated several black/doom/drone projects such as Helvete, Moriendoom and Rius de la Mort, whereas Piero played drums in punk/hardcore bands No Exit and Erpice and produced two electronic solo albums as PRNX. As for the new album Goat Riders, you probably already heard the two opening tracks, Among The Ruins and Pyramids Planet. And you also could have heard the two singles, Monolith and the track with added female vocals called Pazuzu (3:33) feat. Sibilla. And all four of them warrant you to fall head over heels for the Goat Riders album. But third title track Goat Riders is the one that sprinkles golden desert dust over the entire record. Seven minutes that condenses all the album does, you have forward stoner rock riff motion that sounds like it was recorded at a generator party and the end part is this slow doom march, and all of it sounds so incredibly fuzzy, filthy and furious that it takes a few spins before you can continue on with the rest of the album. But when you finally do so, you are treated to a quietly trickling, highly atmospheric Cosmic Voyager which is followed by spacious, slow moving, and hazy doom rocker called Moriendoom that almost seems to spin out of control at the end. Dancing Plague ends the album in brilliant form. And those final minutes of that final track Dancing Plague, after that psychedelic meandering middle part, comes that stoner riffing, the buildup and then the final stretch of pure riff glory, I would have been very happy if it would just have continued for another hour. But all good things must come to an end. And sadly, things this good always end to soon…

(Written by JK)

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