Goom are a Dundee band. Having seen them live, I'd have classed them as a metal band as they really rock out. But what the live set couldn't have really prepared you for, is the standard of songwriting that the band possesses as it's not really something on which you concentrate at the gigs. That said, what they've produced here, does take a few listens to get into, so stick with it, 'coz “instant”, it's not.
They open with five minutes of “Apathetic Fool”, ushered in on lurching guitars riffs, stop-start drums and then the vocal comes in, clean, strong and right on top of the mix, so much so that you realise that this is one band where they want you to hear the song – the song and the lyric become the most important element – and that's what confuses at first, since the vocal is so upfront, the instrumental work is more “the backing” than anything intertwining with the song. That the song itself has no chorus or hook, but is a “serious” lyric that carries its message well, again, means that it's not immediate. So, you play it, and you think “yeh, OK, it's rock and to a degree metal, but it doesn't exactly set you on fire”. But that's where you're judging it too hastily. Listen to it again and realise that this is a rock band with subtlety, invention and something to say, instrumentally and vocally, even if it means going against the grain of what “trad rock” is all about. On that level, the more you play it, the more you're going to get out of it – a kind of “intelligent metal” for the more discerning rock fan. This continues to be the case with the three and a half minute “Flaming” while the three minute “Wreck” accelerates the pace and becomes the first song on the EP to which you can really “rock out” so that, while the construction is still inventive, the sea of riffing, driving drums and a red hot guitar break, make this the finest song on the CD so far – a really scorching number that you actually wish could have been longer.
Then comes the near eight minute “Marathon” that encompasses everything the band's all about in one mighty track – there's power, subtlety, dynamics, strength, urgent, anguished vocals still right upfront, incendiary guitars in a more dynamic vein, crunching drums, pounding upfront bass and more twists and turns than yer average rock band produce. Now here, as with the rest so far, there's no real hook or chorus, but because it is such an epic track, they get away without any, using the actual arrangement to serve as a series of climaxes while a lot of the instrumental work is reminiscent of bands such as Thin Lizzy and and Judas Priest, very much the more complex end of seventies metal, but also with more than a touch of Pearl Jam in there too, particularly in a lot of the vocal phrasings as well as instrumentally. It's a stunning track that delivers the goods more so every time you hear it, an absolute gem of a composition. The five minute “Salvaged” starts more quietly, with chiming guitars, more hushed vocals, still strong, gently clattering percussion, as the band come in and the guitars roll forward in a mix of Thin Lizzy and Wishbone Ash, before the Pearl Jam-esque vocal returns to deliver another “make you sit up and think” lyric, on top of the glowing guitars and solid rhythms, again, as much '90's as '70's, but seriously strong the more you play it. The CD ends with the five minute “Wasted Generation” that allows the band to rock out with a roar as the solid driving metal is what catches fire and sees the CD out in a blaze of riffing and soloing guitars, the lurching and driving rhythms propelling a venemous vocal that's still upfront but in no way detracts from the songs and the playing.
I'd say that this EP starts OK, improves and just gets better as it goes, the last four tracks being the ones that you're going to play long, loud and often.