Varjot

In 2007, Goatmoon surprised the black metal community greatly with the release of Finnish Steel Storm, which expertly combined raw black metal with traditional folk instrumentation and provided further proof that Goatmoon was a force to be reckoned with in the black metal scene. Four years after the release of Finnish Steel Storm Goatmoon released the album’s anticipated follow up, Varjot on Werewolf Records. Upon its release, the album was well received and is considered by many Goatmoon fans to be one of the band’s best albums.

Clocking in at around 34 minutes, Varjot is one of the shortest albums in the Goatmoon catalogue. As the album begins, acoustic guitars play a folk inspired melody that builds over the course of two whole minutes before fading out as sounds of thunder begin to play. Suddenly, a loud crack of thunder is heard as blast beats and black metal riffs kick in starting off the first song on the album, “Storming Through the White Light”. Over these riffs, wind instruments and even a piano play, making it apparent to the listener that the band’s folk sound from their previous album is still fully intact. The song slows down a bit as Blackgoat Gravedesecrator’s (you can’t make these names up) vicious vocals kick in alongside an excellent folk inspired guitar lead. As the song continues, there is more folk instrumentation as it leads into a guitar solo and then into what I can only describe as a keyboard lead. Coming in at around six minutes, the song is an excellent representation of the music on Varjot as a whole. Every song on the album follows this sort of formula, aside from the slow build up. There are often traditional black metal riffs backed by folk instruments that lead into massive guitar solos and some borderline symphonic parts involving keyboards. It is safe to say the overall sound of the album is quite impressive.

As far as individual performances go, Varjot is a tightly executed album. Despite being a multi-instrumentalist himself, Blackgoat once again enlisted the help of several guest musicians to perform on the album. For the first time on a Goatmoon album, there are actually three guitarists playing, with both Blackgoat and a man going by the pseudonym Raakalainen playing rhythm alongside another guy going by the name Avenger handling the lead guitar work. As previously mentioned, the guitar work on the album is fantastic riff-wise and the solos are also quite memorable. Much like the previous album, Blackgoat works a lot of melody into the riffs, making them very enjoyable to listen to. Aside from lead guitar, Avenger also handled both the drumming and keyboards on the album which are both performed very well. His drumming utilizes a lot of blast beats and double bass work that gives the album a lot of punch during the thrash-influenced parts and also keeps the overall sound of the album engaging. His keyboard work sounds great when it it utilized along side Skratt’s flutes and Stormheit’s choir work. One strange thing about the album is that the bass work, performed by Harald Mentor is actually audible throughout the majority of the album despite the harsh production. The bass work on the album, while nothing mind-blowing, sounds great and often compliments the riffs in the songs. Production-wise, the album is pretty rough and could be off putting for listeners who are new to black metal. The guitars emit quite a bit of static and the drums are sometimes hard to make out due to their raw recording quality. Blackgoat’s trademark vocals are also pretty abrasive which could also cause new listeners problems. For black metal fans, the production and vocals are exactly what you want for a raw album and, as a result, these can be seen as either positive or negative aspects of the album.

In the end, Varjot is yet another excellent Goatmoon album that is worth the attention of anyone who is even remotely interested in this band. If you can get past raw production and the racist views that the band expresses, Varjot is definitely worth checking out.

Originally written for www.sputnikmusic.com under my alternate username

Formed around 2002 by sole member BlackGoat Gravedesecrator (AKA Jaakko), Goatmoon issued eight demos during the next two years before releasing the debut, 'Death Before Dishonour' in late '04. With lyrics centered around hatred, anti-religion, Finnish nationalism and white supremacy, BlackGoat is something of a controversial figure, though he personally rejects the NS tag because his words are not centered around Nazi propaganda. I guess that just means he dislikes brown people a lot. Regardless of subject matter, Goatmoon is absolute class as far as Finnish black metal is concerned and I've been absolutely floored since picking up 'Varjot' a few months ago.

Enlisting guest help to provide drums, bass, keyboards, additional guitar, clean vocals and even brief flute and tin whistle use, 'Varjot' may very well be his finest recording to date, although this is the only recording I've heard from the band so far so I could be slightly misinformed. As I understand it, Goatmoon was considerably rawer in their early days, though here the recording is rather polished, while still maintaining the hissing guitar tone the genre is known for. Musically the band offers up mid-paced to speedy black metal compositions that remind of Satanic Warmaster, though with a strong melodic presence intermingled with vibrant folk metal chord progressions makes for a mostly original sound, but comparisons to some of the newer Absurd recordings or stuff like Stormheit could be made for sure.

'Storming Through White Light' opens with sounds of thunderous storm roars in the background alongside a quite pleasing acoustic guitar passage, when just a little over the two minute mark the clouds burst and the blackened fury is unleashed. Immediately the listener is greeted with a catchy and melodic lead riff and BlackGoat's raspy screams, the song gradually builds in dominance, occasionally featuring flute in the background as it reaches its epic conclusion with a mighty and totally headbangable guitar solo that just can't be beat. 'Noidan verestä männikkö herää' & 'Quest For The Goat' tend to be more straightforward, hard hitting and goddamn cold in their delivery, almost bringing to mind Horna at times, while 'Varjo Valolta Suojelee' is a slower instrumental of quite simply epic proportions. The remaining four songs are equally great too, not a wasted moment and not a thing out of line as these lads just continue to crush.

Notably the drum work is quite well performed with almost constant footwork and more than enough interesting rolls and fills along the way, while the bass is also audible during some of the calmer parts of the songs and has its own moments that truly standout and just make the album soar even more. Figuring in more than enough appealing riffs, leads and great solos as well a totally strong and menacing vocal performance and you've got a beast of an album on your hands here.

As mentioned earlier, 'Varjot' is my first contact with Goatmoon, but I eagerly look forward to checking out BlackGoat Gravedesecrator's other creations very soon.

Originally wrote for, Lunar Hypnosis: http://lunarhypnosis.blogspot.com

After stumbling upon Goatmoon’s new album "Varjot" on a whim I am still contemplating… where the hell did this album come from? Blasting away in Finland for all those years in relative obscurity, no doubt with the distinct title of being kvlt surely intact–– most of Goatmoon’s previous releases never held much sway over me. This album, on the other hand, is an all together different beast that should be lighting up soon enough on every black metaler’s radar.

Varjot, which means shadows, contains raw, black metal with some pagan/folk leanings, executed in a Satanic Warmaster like style with better production value. The album opens with a two minute folky acoustic passage and before you know it your “Storming Through the White Light”, a scorching, toe-tapping metal masterpiece. Keyboards are employed throughout the album, but sparingly enough to not overshadow the intensity or integrity of this endeavor.

Blackgoat Gravedesecrator’s vocals are extremely menacing and vicious; conveying the perfect amount of emotional distress to sound convincing, while not overdoing it. The influence of the German metal band Absurd is abundantly evident, particularly on the song “Wolven Empress”. The pagan/folk metal connection can be observed through the keyboard arrangements found on the song “Abomination of Winter”. It is safe to say that the listener will be hard pressed to find a standout track because this is clearly an album that needs to be experienced from start to finish.

All in all "Varjot" is a solid release that should receive it’s fair share of praise. I am really at a loss to find any discernible flaws with this album. One thing to keep in mind is that it is put together in its entirety by one entity alone. This album is the true embodiment of great black metal and should make it on to quite a few critic’s lists for best releases of 2011.

Originally written for Adequacy.net:
http://www.adequacy.net/2011/09/goatmoon-varjot/