EPK – Thirteen Goats – Servants of the Outer Dark (2022)
Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com
For fans of Carcass, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Death, Megadeth
“‘Servants of the Outer Dark’ is the debut record by Vancouver death metal monsters THIRTEEN GOATS—a sonic trip that winds down the most twisted sections of extreme metal’s memory lane on a journey to wicked new horizons. The band weaves together conventions from numerous extreme metal subgenres on songs that range from topical to tongue-in-cheek—some songs have a serious social message, and others are about cooking and eating your enemies. The album title is also a reference to the band’s name—the band’s mascot, Shepherd, is an antichrist figure who wears a goat skull mask, appearing throughout time and space to commit various evil acts with the help of twelve demon goats who function as his disciples. Together, they are THIRTEEN GOATS—and Servants of the Outer Dark.” – Thirteen Goats
Album Title: Servants of the Outer Dark
Release Date: July 1, 2022
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: CD Baby
Thirteengoats.com (under construction) – Facebook.com/THIRTEEN.GOATS – Twitter.com/THIRTEENGOATS
YouTube – Instagram.com/thirteen.goats – Thirteengoats.bandcamp.com
“With “Return to Ruin”, an unrelenting Thirteen Goats suggests it’s time to blow up everything” – Georgia Straight
“Get Weird, Wild and Wacky with Thirteen Goats’ Servants of the Outer Dark” – Decibel Magazine
“Metal Sucks – Beer Metal: More of Your Drunkest Song Suggestions – July 9, 2022 – Thirteen Goats, “Return to Ruin” – Rips, we’re here for it. Suggested by Dave M. Dave, worship the porcelain god.”
“Vancouver’s Thirteen Goats is now streaming their new single “Servant Of The Outer Dark.” The single perfectly marries old school death metal, blackened tendencies, and heavy metal choruses all into one killer song. Plus the video directed by Nessa Aref and Alysson Hall is pretty damn cool.” – Metal Injection
“Vancouver’s Thirteen Goats Don’t Care What You Think on ‘Servants of the Outer Dark'” – Exclaim!
“This new song, “Return To Ruin“, is the first single from Thirteen Goats‘ forthcoming debut album Servants of the Outer Dark, a gut-punching and head-hooking offering of death metal that borrows liberally from many of the genre’s subsets, as well as bringing in elements of thrash, black metal, and grindcore… it blazes like a wildfire running ferociously out of control, powered by a panoply of turbocharged riffing, riotous drumwork, and vitriolic vocals that span a range from guttural bellows to screeching shrieks, wild howls, and savage near-sung yells. The guitars twitch in demented thrashing fevers, jolt like jackhammers, swarm in feeding frenzies, and eject brazen fanfares, augmented by solos that spit fire and beautifully swirl. The rhythm section will also beat you senseless, but engage in some interesting off-kilter interplays as well.” – No Clean Singing
CBC Radio Interview – https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-91-the-early-edition/clip/15922884-on-july-1-vancouver-metal-band-thirteen-goats
“With a name like 13 Goats, it’s gonna be evil. It’s a cool thrashy, blackended groove metal, a little Lamb of God sound with a bit more heavy/brutality going on with a dash of black metal evilness. Great stuff!!”- Moshpit Radio – 89.9 FM (Madison, WI)
“Thirteen Goats make seriously good music and sound like they have a lot of fun doing it. They write great upbeat thrash songs with strong melodies that appropriately sway from sinister to camp and pull it off temendously. For some classic charcuterie of extreme metal mixed with a bit of tongue in cheek, you’re well looked after here.” – Heavy Mag
“It’s a blast of slightly technical death metal that slaps the listener in the face after the opening acoustic guitar intro on Thirteen Goats’ debut album. This Vancouver outfit set about the album with precision, aggression, controlled chaos, and menace. The menace is provided by Graham K. Miles’s death metal growl; the aggression comes from the bass and guitar; the controlled chaos can be attributed to the razor sharp drums. The menacing vocals then become clean and surprisingly rather commercial, adding another dimension to this band. The clean vocal style is still metal, its just unexpected, which is always a good thing on a debut album. This particular track ‘Servant Of The Outer Dark’ is an homage to the horror author Steven King and contains spoken word and breakdown sections that keep the listener interested and keen.” – The Razor’s Edge
“In the end of all, one can say that “Servants of the Outer Dark” is really a surprising release, and as an eclectic Death/Black/Thrash Metal release, it will show that THIRTEEN GOATS is a new strength into the extreme scene.” – Metal Temple
“The starting point of Thirteen Goats and their debut album Servants Of The Outer Dark is death metal, but it doesn’t remain tied to it. They explore all types, including tech death and melodic death metal, and even genres outside of that like thrash, groove, and doom metal. Each song brings out a unique side to the band, whether it’s the politically charged “Prisoner’s Anthem” or the body horror of “Sub-Being.”” Heavy Music Headquarters
“Canada’s Thirteen Goats are incredibly fun to listen to and at multiple points subtly humorous and as such make themselves easily a breath of fresh air within the technical scene. That sense of fun is backed up with very proficient playing and dizzying creativity, far beyond what you would expect from a debuting act’s first full length… Servants of the Outer Dark is an excellent debut full length from these guys and I can’t wait to hear more!”9/10 – Metal Observer
“All you need is love? No. All you need is Thirteen Goats. Their debut album has everything your heart could desire in a Metal record, it’s a metaphorical pizza with all the toppings and better thrill ride of a first crack we defy you to find! [8.5/10]” – Metal Noise
“‘Challenge The Executioner’ is a thunderous and aggressive beast of a death metal track, with an impressive array of technical-sounding riffs, vibrant bass work, and some truly bruising drumming. It’s a song that proves that these guys have the ability and the chops to succeed, whilst channelling bands like Lamb Of God into their output.” – Man of Much Metal
L-R – Rob Fitzgerald (Guitars, Vocals), Graham K. Miles (Vocals, Guitars), Mike Redston (Bass, Vocals)
Photo Credit – Caitlin Delaplace
Eclectic, over-the-top, and just a little weird, THIRTEEN GOATS takes cues from some of extreme metal’s most infamous acts (Death, Carcass, Cannibal Corpse) to create a tongue-in-cheek blend of different genre hallmarks that’s as hooky as it is heavy. This ain’t your dad’s death metal, but we kept the best parts. Horns up.
Album Band Line Up:
Graham K. Miles – Vocals, Lead & Rhythm Guitars
Rob Fitzgerald – Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Vocals
Mike Redston – Bass, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Live Lineup:
Graham K. Miles – Lead Vocals, Lead & Rhythm Guitars
Rob Fitzgerald – Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Vocals
Cody Lewichew – Bass
Leonid Verman – Drums
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BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:
1. Frontman Graham K. Miles got into a motorcycle accident midway through the recording process. He performed all his guitar solos on the record with a broken finger and both wrists sprained.
2. Bass player Mike Redston is also the sole member and songwriter of one-man black metal project Snakeblade.
3. Rob Fitzgerald’s first jam partner was his dad, who was the drummer in a 70s-style rock band called The Wee Band. To this day, Rob thinks his Dad might have had something to do with his love for death metal—which he describes as music where “you’re basically playing drums on all the instruments—even the guitars”.
4. The name “THIRTEEN GOATS” refers to the band’s loose concept and mascot: a demonic entity and antichrist figure named Shepherd who wears a goat skull mask. He travels through space and time, appearing in our world and others whenever evil deeds are afoot—which gives us license to write about pretty much anything. The other 12 goats represent his infernal disciples—as well as symbolizing the “baa-nality” of evil. (Sidebar: the band used to be named “COMMANDRA”, which is a type of flower growing in British Columbia that causes tree fungus. We liked the irony of being a death metal band named after a delicate flower—but nobody knew that, and we got sick of people asking us what the fuck a “COMMANDRA” was. We think “THIRTEEN GOATS” paints a much clearer picture.)
5. Graham K. Miles is a classically-trained Shakespearean actor with a master’s degree in theatre from the New School for Drama (formerly the Actor’s Studio Drama School) in New York City.
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The album as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY)
‘Servants of the Outer Dark’ is the debut record by Vancouver death metal monsters THIRTEEN GOATS—a sonic trip that winds down the most twisted sections of extreme metal’s memory lane on a journey to wicked new horizons. The band weaves together conventions from numerous extreme metal subgenres on songs that range from topical to tongue-in-cheek—some songs have a serious social message, and others are about cooking and eating your enemies. The album title is also a reference to the band’s name—the band’s mascot, Shepherd, is an antichrist figure who wears a goat skull mask, appearing throughout time and space to commit various evil acts with the help of twelve demon goats who function as his disciples. Together, they are THIRTEEN GOATS—and Servants of the Outer Dark.
Track by Track explained (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY)
– Servant of the Outer Dark
This song is an homage to my favourite Stephen King villain. I hope Stephen King doesn’t sue us, but if he does, I plan to take that as a sign that we made it. He didn’t sue Anthrax, so I’m hoping that means we’ll be all right.
The song opens with a thunderclap and a bell ringing while an acoustic guitar plays softly. Then, out of nowhere, the main riff kicks in and the toms start pounding—and the band goes full-tilt from that point forward. Harsh guttural vocals rip through the verses, while a big clean sing-along hook dominates the chorus. There’s even a spoken-word bit in the middle where Rob and I have a bit of dialogue as different characters from the story the song is based on.
This is easily the most melodic song on the record, but it’s also got some truly heavy parts. Mike (who wrote most of the music for this one) has a breakdown in the middle that crushes, Rob added a truly nasty riff that kicks in at a few key points, and I think this is probably my most dynamic and versatile vocal work on the whole album. Everyone’s unique talents really shine on this one, and I hope it finds an audience who appreciates it the way we do.
– Challenge the Executioner
Rob wrote this song about overthrowing a tyrant. I think it’s supposed to be more in the realm of fantasy than social commentary—but looking around at our world for the last few years, maybe it kind of works both ways. I think there are certainly a lot of people out there these days who would like to topple a social order or two—and honestly, I can’t say I blame some of them.
Musically, this song is built around one of our most technical riffs—something Rob wrote years ago that I still have to practice regularly to keep it nice and tight. It also features some really kinetic interplay between the drums and the stringed instruments about halfway through, followed by a big section where both guitars and the bass go into a big tapping frenzy.
When we finished this one, I think we all kind of looked at ourselves and asked if it was too much. But looking back, I think this was one of the moments where we really realized that metal lets you be as crazy as you want, as long as you commit to it.
– Sub-Being
Musically, this is one of our most straightforward songs—it’s very much in the vein of classic death metal, with a few flourishes from 80s thrash thrown in. Rob wrote the music and lyrics, which tell the story of a monster created from different human body parts who craves death but is being kept alive against its will. It’s fun!
– Prisoner’s Anthem
This is our most political song on the record, but it’s also a bit personal for me. It’s about different prison-industrial complexes throughout human history—the first verse is about the Soviet gulags, the second verse is about the Nazi death camps, and the third verse is about the detention centers at the Southern U.S. border. It’s a song about how the flawed justice systems in all of those nations failed their people, and how ultimately, political ideology means nothing if you support a state that treats human lives as disposable.
My whole family is Ukrainian, and Rob has Armenian heritage, so we have older relatives who remember what it was like when the Soviets and the Nazis were disappearing people. And a lot of that stuff is coming up for us right now, with what’s been happening between Russia and Ukraine, but also with atrocities being committed by our own empire. I had a distant relative who was sent to a labour camp in Siberia. So when I hear about kids being separated from their families in this day and age, it makes me really angry. It makes me feel like we haven’t learned anything from the horrors of our past, and that’s what this song is trying to articulate.
– Unholy Mass
This was the first song that Rob and I wrote together. He came up with all the riffs—except the one that plays right at the end, which is mine—and I did the lyrics, which are about a priest who decides to cleanse the world of sinners by gruesomely murdering them. I guess you could read into that and say we’re making a comment about the hypocrisy inherent in organized religions that preach peace and love but enforce their values with violence and oppression. But honestly, we just thought it made for some cool images. I also managed to get a Cryptopsy reference into the chorus—see if you can pick it out!
– Vacuum-Induced Head Explosion
The title really says it all. This is a song about putting your enemies in vacuum-sealed chambers and making their heads explode. I think I got the idea from an old James Bond movie or something.
This might be the most technically challenging song we have on the record. The riffs make you go all over the fretboard, the pace never lets up, and there’s a bridge about two-thirds of the way through where both guitars and the bass are playing some really weird and techy stuff, all while the lead vocals are going. But it has one of my favourite choruses in the entire set—we actually all loved it so much that we couldn’t agree on who should sing it, so we each took a line or two!
– Return to Ruin
I was really inspired by late ‘90s Deicide—specifically, the stuff off ‘Serpents of the Light’ when I wrote this song. It’s a real right-hand workout, with tons of trem-picking in the verses and a chorus that kind of bounces up and down the necks of the guitars in a weird rhythm that feels like it’s almost too early for the beat (but actually isn’t).
The lyrics for this one are kind of on the serious side. They came out of my frustrations with a lot of different institutions that I feel have really failed the current generation—political, financial, educational, judicial, and so on. When I think about how poorly we’re dealing with issues like the climate crisis, or the lasting impact of colonialism, patriarchy, and white supremacy in western nations, or how global capitalism is taking us back to the days of feudalism by facilitating the largest wealth transfer in history so that billionaires can race their private rocket ships to space while the rest of us are getting squeezed tighter every year, it just makes this part of me wish we could burn everything down and start over. I know that’s not realistic, and I don’t really believe that’s the way—but in my darkest moments, it’s kind of a comforting fantasy. So if anyone out there who also feels that way hears this song, at least maybe it will help them to know we’re as angry about all those things as they are. And sometimes, that kind of solidarity inspires people to act.
– Constant Torment
This is another one that I wrote on my own. Musically, it’s inspired largely by melodic death metal like late-career Death and Children of Bodom, with a dash or two of Justice-era Metallica thrown in for good measure. There’s a lot of melody, but it’s kind of frantic and juxtaposed with the main riff, which just sort of bludgeons the listener with these big heavy power chords. I think it’s also the only song on this record with any sweep-picking going on (although that’s really just used as an accent during the chorus and a small part of the first solo).
The lyrics are about living with mental illness and what it’s like when that makes you want to kill yourself.
– Through the Meat Grinder… The Recipe
This song’s just fun. It’s a classic tale of the macabre about a man who murders his rival and cooks him—then, when the rest of the village shows up on his doorstep with torches and pitchforks, demanding to know what happened to the missing person, our “hero” invites them all in for dinner, gets them drunk, serves them the severed head of his victim, and murders the lot of them so he can keep making meat pies. Kind of an Edgar-Allen-Poe-meets-Sweeney-Todd kind of thing—except I don’t think this one will ever become a Broadway musical. But you never know!
Musically, I’m really proud of how this one came together. It’s got this kind of atmospheric, almost doomy intro, followed by a real old school death metal riff, and then it kicks into groove metal for a bit before the chorus rolls around. There’s a trem-picked lead section that feels very black-metal-inspired, and then the song transforms into this whole other beast where the guitars start doing a Gojira type of thing and Mike starts reciting the steps for preparing to cook and eat human flesh. That’s the ‘Recipe’ part. And then it all comes full circle for the grim (or should I say, ‘Grimm’?) conclusion of the story. Gotta give ‘em a satisfying ending, right?
There’s also a tiny little nod to one of our biggest musical influences—someone who unfortunately isn’t around anymore—right at the very end of the track. I think some people will hear it right away, and some people won’t. That’s just our way of saying “thank you for inspiring us”.
[Download Album Cover | Download Album Lyrics]
Album Title: Servants of the Outer Dark
Release Date: July 1, 2022
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: CD Baby
Track Listing:
1. Servant of the Outer Dark (5:48)
2. Challenge the Executioner (3:18)
3. Return to Ruin (4:11)
4. Prisoner’s Anthem (3:26)
5. Sub-Being (4:16)
6. Unholy Mass (4:41)
7. Constant Torment (3:30)
8. Vacuum-Induced Head Explosion (4:33)
9. Through the Meat Grinder… The Recipe (4:47)
Album Length: 38:34
Album Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: Graham K. Miles, Rob Fitzgerald, & Mike Redston
• All songs written by:
– Servant of the Outer Dark
Music by Mike Redston & Rob Fitzgerald & Graham K. Miles
Lyrics by Graham K. Miles
– Challenge the Executioner
Music & Lyrics by Rob Fitzgerald
– Return to Ruin
Music & Lyrics by Graham K. Miles
– Prisoner’s Anthem
Music & Lyrics by Graham K. Miles
– Sub-Being
Music by Rob Fitzgerald & Mike Redston
Lyrics by Rob Fitzgerald
– Unholy Mass
Music by Rob Fitzgerald
Lyrics by Graham K. Miles
– Constant Torment
Music & Lyrics by Graham K. Miles
– Vacuum-Induced Head Explosion
Music by Rob Fitzgerald
Lyrics by Graham K. Miles
– Through the Meat Grinder… The Recipe
Music by Graham K. Miles & Mike Redston
Lyrics by Graham K. Miles & Mike Redston
• Produced by: Graham K. Miles, Rob Fitzgerald, & Mike Redston
• Mixed by: Diego Fernandez-Trujillo
• Mastered by: Diego Fernandez-Trujillo
• Album Artwork by: Jeremy Famir
• Member of SOCAN
• Canadian Content (MAPL)
Album Band Line Up:
Graham K. Miles – Vocals, Lead & Rhythm Guitars
Rob Fitzgerald – Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Vocals
Mike Redston – Bass, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Live Lineup:
Graham K. Miles – Lead Vocals, Lead & Rhythm Guitars
Rob Fitzgerald – Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Vocals
Cody Lewichew – Bass
Leonid Verman – Drums
Tour Dates:
Single Title: Ascending
Photographer Credit: Casey Steinmiller, Steinmiller Productions
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