Year of the Goat

support Sea
author EW date 07/11/13 venue BETA, Copenhagen, DEN

Two gigs, two venues, two reviewers. While EW was otherwise occupied in the early evening at Amager Bio, BV was there on hand to see Sea before EW checked in for Year of the Goat...

Sea

Support of the night comes in the form of an early 80’s inspired hard-rock/metal outfit named Sea. As Sea enter the stage around 22:00, the emergence of several followers of the band makes for a solid first impression, as the band receives an immediate applause that caught me completely off guard. However, as the band launches into track after track of highly memorable and unusually catchy riffs, harmonized lead guitars and an immensely powerful set of vocals, I immediately begin to see what all the fuss is about. Granted, Sea are relatively new to the game but they do seem to have a sense of direction that you don’t come across in many bands these days. Whereas the revivalist genre has thrown itself at the 70’s, this band seems immensely more interested in sounding like early Iron Maiden with all the grandiose power riffing that comes with that.

Topping off their reasonably powerful tracks by also acting like metal superstars certainly adds to the experience. As guitarist Anders Kargaard and guitarist/vocalist Anders Brink consistently lean on each other, doing various power-stands I can’t help but feel slightly enthralled and mightily fascinated by their stage presence – especially considering the young age of the band. However, as impressive as the guitar players may seem, some credit must also be given to the delightfully vibrant rhythm section consisting on drummer Jonas Bangstrup and bassist Maico Thyge - the latter of which also seems to have his own personal fan-club in front of the stage, waving affectionate messages on signs towards him. In the end, they might come across as incredibly cheesy to the extent of ridiculous but I, for one, enjoy the fact that the revivalist movement seems to be embracing the early 80’s as well – and Sea certainly seem to be doing so with a surprising efficiency and vigour. I might have to catch these guys again sometime. BV

Year of the Goat

Following on from Satyricon's show at Amager Bio I made my way across for the more sedate sounds of Swedes Year of the Goat at Beta, who were conveniently coming on stage at a time to allow an attendance of both gigs. This rocking six-piece who look as if they Satan's Lounge Band play a 70s derived sound with some similarity to The Devil's Blood, albeit at the proggier end of the spectrum with Mikael Popovic's mellotron creating a warm soothing back to the well-crafted riffs from the triple guitar attack of Thomas Sabbathi, Per Broddesson and Don Palmroos. Such a weight of rhythm does tend to lend the band a slightly monotone delivery, with the depth of their sound being an easily appreciable one that lacks some of the virtuosity and sharp-edged nous of some of their contemporaries, but nonetheless it allowed for a freedom of expression in their delivery that left me in a cheery mood throughout their performance.

As far as I could tell from my previous listens to their sole album "Angels' Necropolis", the bulk of it was played with the title track and "A Circle of Serpents" the highlight tracks for me, largely for the melodies in Sabbathi's crooning vocals sending my mind from the cosy upstairs room at Beta to a distant world where the soulless computerised music of today did not exist. As I came to discover from the following evening's events, the terrific sound quality was simply the norm at Beta, allowing for the varying moods in Year of the Goat to be heard as clear as on record and topping off a show that was the very definition of solid.

7

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