United in Demonic Warfare

Let's put it right out there: I've never liked Goatpenis. They simply sounded too light-hearted for my taste, and I'm afraid this release is not going to change that opinion very much. The only reason for me having this split, was because of the Demonic Apprition contribution.

After an intro of voices, screaming and indistinct growling, Goatpenis burst forth with a track that is somewhere in the vicinity of decent, to be honest. It has a cool Marduk-ish guitar riff, and one of the things I always did appreciate about the band were the pitched vocals. The terrible sounding triggered percussion gives us lots of blast beats and double kick, but throughout it sounds as if the drummer only barely manages to keep up with the music. The compositions really aren't that great either, relying on too much repetition, and the guitars sound oddly melodic in places, which undermines any sense of aggression or menace the music might at times exude. They do manage to give the music some of that old school mid 90's black metal spirit in the vein of early Enthroned and Marduk, but this feeling only seldom lasts, mostly because of the iffy execution of the music, but the flatly triggered percussion also does not help. The good riffs manage to save some of the furniture here, but as I pointed out above, they get weirdly melodic at times, and that is nowhere as blatant as in "Combustion Light Gas Gun (Glgg)". If the idea of Helloween (or any band in that style, really) playing 90's black metal really speaks to you, this might be your thing, but I get thoroughly annoyed by this track. So no, Goatpenis does on this release more or less what I expect from them, and that is frankly not much.

Good thing that Demonic Apparition picks up the mantle after Goatpenis, because they manage to excite me a bit more. Tagged as a black/death metal band, they do exactly that, but they reach further back into time with their influences, waaaaaay back in time, actually. That old school Blasphemy and old Beherit style is there for sure, but for most time they reminded me of late 80's/early 90's grindcore/death metal bands such as Blood, Phlegm, Naked Whipper, Agathocles, Impetigo, and even the early Necrophagia stuff. This for most part because of the growling vocals, simple guitar riffs, loose execution of the music, and even a good helping of hardcore punk elements, lifted from the old albums of Black Flag and Circle Jerks. These tracks are poured into a grainy, somewhat sloppy production, and has as most prominent aspects vocals, guitars and a natural sounding percussion that seems to go up and down in the songs during proceedings. This is quite the abrasive combination, it has to be said. It sounds primitive and chaotic, but not everything works as well. Especially the punk influence sounds oddly out of place at times, but for most part, Demonic Apparition manages well enough, in my opinion. I've heard this type of stuff better before, but I can still appreciate the underground feel that this band emanates, and their willingness to go beyond simple Blasphemy worship is also a plus in my book.

For me, the big winner here is Demonic Apparition, but that's for most part because I really don't like what Goatpenis does. While being far from the greatest band in the chaotic black/death metal genre, Demonic Apparation do succeed in nailing that underground spirit just right, and that's something I can appreciate to the fullest. As a whole this split isn't really what I would call a must-have, but the Demonic Apparition part still makes it worth to look into if you're into the style, even if it's just once.