Doom trio King Potenaz release their debut album on Argonauta Records, Goat Rider.

Formed in Italy in 2019, King Potenaz is a power threesome “dedicated to a mix of raw and fuzzy dirty doom and stoner.” Music to my ears, you might say. A two-song demo came out in 2022, and a couple of singles off the new record saw release prior to the full album. In other words, there hasn’t been much recorded music out there from King Potenaz until now. The band is Francesco Pensato (bass), Giuseppe (guitar, vocals), and Piero Schiavone (drums, synth).

Side one starts with “Among The Ruins” and a massive down stroke to a funeral doom posture. Soon enough, the tempo picks up a touch, and the music rolls along crushing everything before it. The vocals are stern and vital, commanding. The music crescendos toward the end, finally trailing off. “Pyramids Planet” is more of a burbling mystery. Quiet at first, a big guitar riff does come, flattening the view toward the horizon. The vocal message is distorted, like a transmission received across a turbulent galaxy. The song finds many paces, including a gliding groove in its final moments. The title track follows, and it is a rugged road rager that slides into gear and rolls on. There is a delightfully trippy passage in the middle that made me feel like I was in the desert just after sundown and that the ghosts had come to howl. “Pazuzu” sounds like lounge music for a funeral dimension, light and sad as it begins; quiet and dire. Beautiful vocals make this song a stand-out track.

The second half is just as revealing and inspiring as the first. Overall, this album turned out to be heavier than I expected, and that was a very pleasant surprise. “Cosmic Voyager” is a psychedelic fugue – the “Planet Caravan” of the album – while “Moriendoom” is a sort of escorted stroll through subterranean catacombs. “Monolithic” sets a steady, driving beat for most of the song, offering momentum for the final track, the nine-minute beast, “Dancing Plague.” As soon as the song finished, I started the album over again from the beginning. Great record. Highly recommended.

Goat Rider is out on Friday, April 28^th through Argonauta Records. Check it out at the links below. The actual album has not popped up on Bandcamp yet (at this writing), but I presume that it will.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://kingpotenaz.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/KingPoyenaz666

Argonauta Records, https://www.argonautarecords.com/

© Wayne Edwards