Cokegoat are a very young (formation: 2011) Chicago-based six-piece (Jeff Wojtysiak-g, v; Chase Bentley-g; Tim Baldwin-b; Ed Nudd-g, v; Jordan Schultz-d; and Rebekah Brown-k, v), that debut with Vessel, which will be released on vinyl, and which will get available as well via digital download. The material was recorded, engineered and mixed by Like Rats / Weekend Nachos’ Andy Nelson at Bricktop Studios, and mastered by Carl Saff (think: Unsane, Red Fang, Earthless etc.), and it has a total running time of thirty nine minutes.
I think it is a very hard and difficult experience to enjoy this album. It sounds like an amalgam of post-modern Stoner, Seventies Doom, sleazy Sludge, melodic Post-Metal, and catchy Hardcore / Punk. All songs are very varying, but with the assemblage of possible genre-relatives I did sum up, you will not be that surprised, I guess. Besides, the whole comes with a sound so nasty and thick, fat and grumpy; it’s a rawness you cannot deny, it’s a roughness you will not ignore. And this too, that equilibrium in between a dirty production and a timelessly-performanting approach, is a surplus that will intitule the open-minded adept. Add some catchier Groove-elements, many atmospheric intermezzos, some Sabbath-esque psychedelics (a couple of riffs and leads / solos are truly inspired by the likes of Black Sabbath, Pentagram or Trouble, even though the main focus is rather sludgy), Cathedral (post-Supernatural Birth Machine-era) / Electric Wizard-oriented melodies, and a couple of The Ocean / Mastodon / Isis / Neurosis-inspired song structures, and you might have a clue what Vessel stands for. Brings me finally to another compliment: the great diversity in between every piece. Despite the same, comparable basics (sludgy adventures combined with doomy experiences and trippy rambles…), all songs come with an own, specific character, and at the same time with a manifest, distinct identity-to-the-core.