Album Review: Golden Void - Golden Void

Hot on the heels of Tame Impala's second album it's difficult for me to not hear their dizzy, psychedelic experimentation whenever I listen to Golden Void's new self-titled debut album..

Whilst the references are different and the approaches may vary the obsession with the past is a clear raison d'être for both bands. But Golden Void are hooked on a different beast - where Tame Impala are constantly reliving their wildest Revolver and White Album fantasies Golden Void take their lead from 70s blues rock and hard metal - traces of Deep Purple and early Hard Core.

Golden Void - Golden Void

Tame Impala's latest album used technology to realise a vision of the musical period they love that never quite could have existed at the time but Golden Void play their dedication straight. Unlike on Lonerism, nothing here sounds like it couldn't be 35-years old - this is a raw album, still itching with a warm, fuzzy sound that harks back to the days of valves and grooves. Recorded in San Francisco, it was recorded straight to tape with limited overdubs and that purity of approach comes through.

And that is basically what Golden Void is - a celebration of doing things the old way. Having played together across various bands for years there is a tightness in the interplay between the band's members, particularly Isaiah Mitchell's vocals and the bass and drum work of Aaron Morgan and Justin Pinkerton.

That tightness is demonstrated in the album's opening tracks. 'Art Of Invading' sounds as vicious as the title implies - a wall of guitar and bass whilst Mitchell howls. 'Virtue' is similarly unsympathetic, with the kind of chunky bass melody that Death From Above 1979 hung their hats on and a rhythm section that is basically Pinkerton locked into a full, pummelling drum-solo for five-minutes.

After letting off the gas ever so slightly for the album's middle-half and gloriously gloomy 'Badlands' the band once again open up on 'The Curve'. Mitchell's guitar work here is exemplary - furiously riffing one moment before a gentle, bluesy bridge sees a tortured solo in the style of Python Lee Jackson's 'In A Broken Dream'.

Due to the straight nature in which it is played those that think Tame Impala do nothing but revisit the past-glories of other bands will have even less to like here, but put aside such concerns and it's another well played and executed album.

Golden Void is released on Monday through Thrill Jockey, available to pre-order on CD and LP from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate links].

Check out the video for 'Virtue' below: