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September 7, 2008 |
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01. Wear These Scars Of Testimony
02. Bloodletting Upon The Cloven Hoof
03. Alchemy Of The Black Sun Cult
04. My Eyes Are The Spears Of Chaos
05. In The Narrow Confines Of Defilement
06. Forever Consumed Oblivion
07. A Haunting Curse...
08. Silence Marked By The Breaking Of Bone
09. Diabolical Submergence Of Rebirth
10. ...Of Ashen Slumber
11. I Avenge Myself
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New Orleans just got a little colder.
GOATWHORE is back with yet another blackened splash of underground hostility in the form of their third album, "A Haunting Curse", their debut for Metal Blade Records. The trials and tribulations of this band are well noted. Near fatal van accidents; an entire metropolis reduced to rising water. All this tragedy that would have been detrimental to a lesser group has only served to make GOATWHORE into a more venomous, deadly creature.
Guitarist Sammy Duet (formerly of CROWBAR and the brilliantly haunting ACID BATH) is at his Baphomet-worshiping best here. These are the kind of riffs that come from years of sitting in basements with BEHERIT and DARKTHRONE records on at full volume. "Bloodletting Upon The Cloven Hoof" opens with a gnarled melody that can only be accurately personified by screaming "BLACK F***ING METAL" as a church is reduced to ash behind your raised fists. "Alchemy Of The Black Sun Cult" and "My Eyes Are The Spears Of Chaos" sound more CELTIC FROST than CELTIC FROST does (especially nowadays), complete with a Tom G. Warrior-inspired "UGH!" right before the hook kicks into high Hell.
Leather-lunged vocalist Ben Falgoust (also of the amazing SOILENT GREEN) keeps the otherwise Nordic-influenced material grounded in the Dirty South. Falgoust is no doubt one of the underground's most versatile and interesting frontmen (perhaps second only to STARKWEATHER's Rennie Resmini). "A Haunting Curse" contains one of Falgoust's best performances ever.
Also more than worthy of note is the performance of drummer Zack Simmons. He knows when to be minimal and when to be the whirlwind portal to the underworld, and he seems able to switch effortlessly between those dynamics, as heard in the closing track "I Avenge Myself", which bounces from speed to plod. An amazing performance.
Lyrically, the sheer volume of text contained in the booklet is unreal, especially considering the length of the songs. They of course contain the stock-imagery of Black Metal; demons, fire, religious violence. But they're delivered and written with a passion and aggression that puts the entire package beyond the payment of mere lip service to the dark forces of whoever.
"A Haunting Curse" finds GOATWHORE faster, more furious, more demonic, and more ugly than ever before. The gloomy brooding depression of their previous album, "Funeral Dirge For A Rotting Sun", has been replaced with a bloodier, more vengeful atmosphere/mood, channeling the angrier Black Metal/War Metal acts IMPALED NAZARENE and ANAAL NATHRAKH. But don't get confused; this is a GOATWHORE album through and through - just a leaner, faster, more destructive GOATWHORE album.
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