Goatfather – Monster Truck
Release Date: 17th September 2021
Label: Argonauta Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Hard Rock, Stoner, Alternative.
FFO: Kyuss, Soundgarden, Down.
Review By: Kenny Newall
French Goatfather follow up their gloriously titled debut, HipsterFister with the more mundanely monickered MonsterTruck for their sophomore outing. And much like the less attention grabbing title, MT sees them go down a gear in songwriting quality. Trendy fingering at best. It pains me to say it, being a pretty shit guitarist myself, but I don’t think Goatfather have the musical chops to go where they probably want to go. Which is fine if you can write simple, killer riffs and vocal patterns, as they did here and there on their debut, but their impish lorry seems to have run out of gas. The fact that the bassist too often follows the guitar line doesn’t help much either. Laying down a dirty bass track for the guitarist to then monster his truck over would have worked better to my ears. The drummer doesn’t really help much either, it has to be said. Overall Goatfather sound like a better than average garage band with an entertaining vocalist willing to gie it laldy whether the song needs it or not.
So why do I like it? (Apart from the fact they have nearly 5 minutes of silence on the final track before the hidden track kicks in. I! Fucking! Hate! That!) Well, I like it cos it has something. When I break it down, it breaks down. But when I just listen without analysing, I like it. In the same way I like cornflakes or ready salted. I fucking love muesli and Grape Nuts, salt and vinegar or sour cream and onion, but if I’m guesting and my host offers the plainer fare, it’ll still fill a hole. Which is why I suppose hosts usually only ask if you like something when they’re figuring out what to feed you rather than if you love it. Still, I have their toilet at my mercy if they disappoint.
Anyway, to round out the, yeah but what do they sound like part of the review, they sound like they’ve heard a lot of Kyuss and Soundgarden and why not throw Clutch in there seeing as the album is called MonsterTruck. It’s also no surprise the guitarist has a Down t-shirt on in the video below. Which is titled In Your Face. And this is probably how to enjoy them best. Live and sweaty. Viscéral even.
(2.5 / 5)
