... follow the smoke : GOYA demo

Some may argue about the often used addition of Doom to Stoner when trying to describe a sound that takes influences in both styles, but it's sometimes something inevitable, especially when weedy smoke and nastiness surround to make the mix raw and fatty !!! Yes, GOYA is one of those good examples of what a mix from Stoner and Doom can give when the most representative caracters of each are blended ultimately.

It's not  too hard to imagine that the major influences of this cool trio from Phoenix are ELECTRIC WIZARD and ST VITUS... this is awesomely infectious for a 1st recording, a demo (yes there's still bands that humbly call their first recording a demo !) which contains 5 songs and has a very particular sound that fits well with their stoned out and crushing climax.
This sounds like a demo indeed, in its noble sense... certainly needs to be matured but is very promising, a bit like the ELDER demo material which was very much influenced by SLEEP but a solid beginning to a carreer that took off rather quickly...

There's that garage feeling which values a little punchy edge in some parts but the tempo is generally of  relentless fuzzy headiness that envelopp the overall in a kind of nebulous atmosphere and despite the sometimes too pronounced E.W.  touches, this is really attractive and addictive too !!! Yet I think this roughness in the production doesn't always serve the vocals, especially in the most hauting moments of "Mourning Sun" and "Night Creeps" where there's a lack of emphasis in the mournful tone but otherwise I think they are good in all other terms. 
This latter song (the last in fact) is the epic peak (!) of this debut, 11 minutes with a devilishly heavy riff, twisted screaming solos, there's doomed sickness here and the rythmic section more than anywhere else displays a hitting heaviness that is badass. Finally this ploding piece  ends with hallucinated feedback that Chandler's wouldn't renounce... a brilliant end really that leaves a good taste for more listenings !

GOYA has definitely that something which allows to predict them a bright future, conditionned by completely succeeding to get over their influences and find the right balance in their sound to keep it raw but more valued in its tight execution...
Now smell and enjoy this aptly named link ;) : http://marijuana.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/goyastoner