Single Slam – Shake Me Down by Goat Monsoon

Essex based riff masters, Goat Monsoon, have a new single out called Shake Me Down. It was released independently on the 6th of June this year.

Goat Monsoon came to our attention during Heat 1 of this years Metal to the Masses Essex. As sponsors of the event, we headed to Colchester to check out the local Essex scene and were impressed enough but didn’t notice a clear front runner. Up stepped Goat Monsoon. Within a few minutes of them starting, we looked at each other and both instantly agreed, they would win the heat, maybe the whole event. Fast forward a few months and they are preparing to play in the final. Find out all about that final here. You can also read a short interview with Goat Monsoon here.

Goat Monsoon are a 5 piece with Ben and Charlie on guitars. Evil Stu is on the bass with Lewis on drums. Last but not least, on vocals we have Mike.

Shake Me Down is a little under 5 minutes long and is a hard hitting, riff machine. From the first few seconds, when the bass drags in, Shake Me Down delivers punchy rhythms that will quickly get heads banging. Thick, bassy groove mixes with catchy mid tempo drum blasts and growled vocals packing plenty of power. There is a little bit of flow missing from the early stages. It sounds a little like a couple different passages rather than a continuous flowing song. Still, it’s good music and it quickly syncs in around the 70 second mark with a fantastic riff. The drums speed up and we get a fiery lead line too.

Every section builds towards the chorus which brings a slowed down groove designed for that full on, from the waist, head banging. I like how they speed up sections around the chorus. It gives the slowed down slam even more intensity. Cleverly makes it stand out. The ending part of the song sees Goat Monsoon ramp up the heaviness even further. The vocals pack a bit more depth and growl. We still have the same underlying thick groove but also a screaming lead line and lashings of distortion. It sounds a bit fuzzy and raw but in a good way.

Shake Me Down is a cracking song, jam packed with hard hitting riffs and bone rattling groove. The drums are fantastic, really emphasising the rhythms with switches in tempo and power. Strong vocals that show a welcome switch up in style near the end and keep things sounding fresh while the guitars and bass join to form a sound that could register on the Richter scale. A little bit of a disjointed feel near the beginning gets lost quickly in the crushing waves of groove that follow. Speaking of waves, this is Goat Monsoon, and they are making them.

Do yourself a favour and check out Shake Me Down, available now on all the usual streaming platforms. Help them, and local music out by heading to their Bandcamp page and grabbing the single for about the price of a bag of crisps. Find out more about Goat Monsoon at their Facebook page and on YouTube by following the links. Be sure to like, follow and subscribe while you are there.