The first time I ever did ayahuasca, I took a moderate dose while lying in a hot bath. I’m sitting there in the tub when I notice something out of the corner of my eye. Being a sensible professional, I knew this was a hallucination, and I knew if I looked right at it, the illusion would come apart at the seams. So I turned and locked eyes with a duende. Standing right next to my toilet was a little person, its head up to the top of the toilet seat, with no mouth, skin made of oak bark, and two piercing grey eyes. We stared at each other for a moment, the thing refusing to dissipate, then the bastard ran behind the throne and vanished. I hop up, panicked, and run over only to find the thing is completely gone. I have never had something like that happen before and have never had a trip like that since. Pure psychedelic terror at the hands of this little gnome-thing, a feeling that can only be replicated by a massive hit of goblin rock.
“But Dusty, what is goblin rock?” I hear you shout. Well, first off, don’t shout at me; it’s rude. Secondly, goblin rock is a genre pioneered by Indiana’s self-proclaimed “hungriest goblin rockers” Moon Goons. This quartet has created a unique sound that is sort of psychedelic meets prog-rock meets hyper-aggressive post-punk. It’s spiraling keys and growling guitars with spacey vocals and pounding beats that make you want to crack someone right in the jaw. Take their latest album, “Lady of Many Faces", for example.
This 2024 release is an eight-track compendium of goblin rock. The album opens with “Larvae Lamp,” a tune that starts with about two seconds of distorted droning before erupting into a storm of undulating guitars, haunting synths, and thumping rhythm. There really is no break from there; put the tracklist up on a wall and throw a dart at it. It doesn’t matter which song you hit; it’s going to be the most aggressive psychedelic rock tune you’ve ever heard. Say you pin “Doom Tomb Giant,” well, you may be confused at first, as the intro to this song is a ghastly onslaught of sparkly keys with some sort of otherworldly chanting in the back, like something you would hear in a satanic monastery. Then the guitar begins ripping holes in this macabre hymn as the music shifts to something more vicious. Frontman Corey Standifer begins snarling into the microphone in a tone that reminds one of Les Claypool as the keys become ghostly and the drums a heavy thudding beat that hits you in the chest like a bolt of lightning hits a mighty elm, shattering your mind like said tree, turned to smouldering charcoal raining down from above.
As all of this instrumental chaos rocks you to your core, you may begin to notice the complexity of the vocals in the average Moon Goon tune. You'll find that at times we have as many as three people singing. Of course, there's Standifer, goblin guitarist extraordinaire, but joining him on the mic is key player Brooke Rice as well as bassist Devin Kearns. In fact, the only goon we won't catch singing is Jacob Kozlowski, who is far too busy wailing on the drums to sing about the incarcerated magical elite and energy phantoms. As if it wasn’t enough that Moon Goons already pioneered this violently ethereal stylee, they have managed to find a way to use three different vocalists without damaging the integrity of the band’s sound. Something some bands can’t even do with two singers.
If you haven’t heard “Lady of Many Faces” yet, then you can find it waiting for you wherever you stream your music. This record is packed with hooks and riffs that warp your mind and make you feel like an undead freak risen to rage on All Hallows Eve. If you’re floating around the Louisville area, good news. You can catch Moon Goons playing Portalopolis on September 6. If you can’t catch that, then you can always find them on their home turf here in Indianapolis playing the local circuit. Just be wary when using the lavatory at a show; you never know when you might come upon a two-foot goblin hiding behind a toilet.
muschiosauro
