Canadian heavy metal band Goat Horn were formed in Ontario in 1999 by three veterans of the local music scene, Jason Decay (vocals/bass), Brandon Wars (guitar) and Steel Rider (drums). The band recorded three albums of raw old-school doom metal before calling it a day in June 2006. Voyage to Nowhere – The Complete Anthology compiles those three albums in one set along with some bonus demos and live recordings. " />

Canadian heavy metal band Goat Horn were formed in Ontario in 1999 by three veterans of the local music scene, Jason Decay (vocals/bass), Brandon Wars (guitar) and Steel Rider (drums). The band recorded three albums of raw old-school doom metal before calling it a day in June 2006. Voyage to Nowhere – The Complete Anthology compiles those three albums in one set along with some bonus demos and live recordings.

Debut album Voyage to Nowhere from 2001 gets things underway. The opening track is the self-titled Goat Horn, a chugging slab of doom metal that draws influence from Cathedral, it sounds like the lost link between their debut album Forest of Equilibrium and its follow-up Ethereal Mirror, mixing the deathly grows of the former with the chugging riffs of the latter. Alcoholic Faith picks up the pace slightly drawing slightly more on the influence of British black metal legends Venom, and Swiss proto-black metal gods Celtic Frost. The band wear their influences on their sleeves, however they do it with such style that you can’t help but be blown away by them. Across the rest of the debut you can hear the influence of both classic thrash metal and the NWOBHM creeping into their largely doomy style. The riffs are mighty and easily rival anything written by Cathedral’s Gaz Jennings. Overall, this is a brilliant slab of raw underground metal that deserves to be better known. The bonus material on disc one is well worth a listen too, allowing the listener a glimpse of the band’s genesis.

The second album, Storming the Gates is next. Opener Gates of Oppression, whilst still heavy sounds slightly less rough around the edges, but only slightly. It doesn’t quite have the ferocity of the debut album, but it’s still a very good slice of heavy metal. The band have moved slightly away from the doomier aspect into more of a straight-ahead metal, Rotten Roll is a glorious mixture of Cathedral style grooves, and NWOBHM melodies. Those NWOBHM influences are far more prevalent than on the debut, particularly on To the Cliff and Final Sentence/ Finally Sentenced. Fortress Doomed is a particularly strong melodious chunk of classic metal with a really strong melodic chorus, whilst The Last Force harks back to the galloping riffs of vintage Helloween. Re-animation picks up the pace, while Fate Strikes takes us back down the melodic classic metal route, before the disc closes with yet more demos and live material, including a live rendition of the Helloween classic Heavy Metal is the Law. 

The final disc in the set contains the band’s third release, the EP, Threatening Force, which draws even more influence from Helloween and the power metal scene in general. Gone are the Cathedral-esque riffs and Cronos/Lee Dorrian-style vocals to be replaced with galloping guitar runs and high-pitched screaming vocals, however the album is still a damn fine slab of heavy metal goodness. Rise into the Night is one of the standouts here, a well-rounded mix of their older style and the more melodic band they became. The original album comes to a close with re-recordings of two tracks from their second album, Fate Strikes and The Last Force, both sound slicker and like a band on their way to bigger things. The disc closes with another clutch of demo tracks that add even more background to the band’s sound.

Overall, this three CD set is very good, Goat Horn are one of the great lost bands that deserve to be better known by more people, their first two albums are underground classics and whilst the Threatening Force EP is weaker, it remains a thoroughly enjoyable listen from start to finish. Dissonance Productions have done an excellent job in capturing the essence of this most underappreciated band, this 3CD set is beautifully packaged with extensive liner notes from Malcolm Dome and some great photos of the band. I am so glad we have this career retrospective which allows the band to live on in the hearts of true metalheads everywhere. Thank you, Dissonance Productions, and keep up the good work.