Goya – In the Dawn of November (Review)

Goya are a doom metal band from the US and this is their fourth album.

It’s been a long time since 2017’s Harvester of Bongloads, so it’s great to finally have a new album from Goya. The band’s previous album was stronger than most in the realms of doom metal, so expectations are high for the 40-minute In the Dawn of November.

Goya offer up a heady mix of doom metal, sludge, psychedelic depth, and atmospheric weight, and they do it so well. They have an intoxicating formula, bringing together all of the best bits of the genre into a humungous blend of sludgy doom heaviness and feeling.

With the exception of the final track, which is just a bit of an aimless outro, every part of the music on In the Dawn of November is imbued with deep emotion. Every damn part. It’s an electric record, brimming with dark energy and esoteric majesty. Even when angry and raging, you can feel the passion bleed through the music’s tumultuous grooves. At its darkest and gloomiest, the record generates haunting atmospheres that are striking.

Goya take the sludge doom metal template and own it so thoroughly it should be illegal. I love Goya’s fuzzy riffs and filthy bass. I love the organic, satisfying drums. I love the rich-in-feeling vocals. For whatever reason, Goya have something special going on, and they stand head and shoulders above most of the competition. Not an easy thing to do when you’re playing a type of doom metal that is so, so easy to be average at. It’s quite remarkable actually how Goya take the base ingredients of the style and make something wonderfully tasty with them. There is nothing on In the Dawn of November that you haven’t heard in the music of other similar bands, but Goya are just brilliant at what they do. It’s that simple.

Essential listening for fans of bands such as Acid King, Electric Wizard, Sleep, Ufomammut, Windhand, Yob, etc.