Dundee’s premiere alt-rock misfits, Fat Goth, return with their latest album Enorme!. After blasting onto the scene with 2013’s ‘Stud’, the band seemed to rise and rise but, despite the bluster of this and their follow-up ‘One Hundred Percent Suave’, it was as if the band hastily retreated from their painfully short time in the sun.
Their previous releases were a satirical look on life and love, filtered through front man Fraser’s dark lens. The band poked fun at themselves, their surroundings and the world at large but Enorme! is a more ‘back to basics’ approach. In the time Fat Goth have been away, they’ve matured and are taking things more seriously. Their anger and disdain is ever present but it’s anger without the goofiness of their previous releases. Their focus is on politics and the injustice they see around them, a subject that should be on most artists’ minds as society edges ever closer to a bleak future.
‘Guestbook’ opens the album with growls and heavy riffs, it’s a big sound but Fat Goth are expert at inserting melody into their music nevertheless. Although the sound is unequivocally Fat Goth, there are a few surprises with the band’s sound; bassist Kevin Black would give Primus’ Les Claypool a run for his money. ‘Queen Bee’ twists and turns through frustrated snarls with some of the most impressive beats you’ll hear on any modern rock record this year.
Although this isn’t their best effort, it’s an interesting change in direction for Fat Goth. Enorme! is an intense listen but it’s an important one – artists need to keeping making music that speaks to their souls, but everyone else’s as well. Let’s just hope the band don’t take too long a break next time, we need their anger and passion now more than ever.
Enorme! is out now via Hefty Dafty Records.