Chapel of the Winds of Belial

The first impression of Greece's Goatvomit is that of a Blasphemy clone, not only because their EP Chapel of the Winds of Belial is one of the earlier releases on Nuclear War Now! productions, that haven for all things that dwell at the threshold of primitive black, thrash and death metals (similar to Blasphemy), but the band also adopt the ridiculous stage names like 'Bestial Necroperversor of Traditional Goat Worship and Mockery' or 'Hideous Abomination of the Perverted Temple of Necromany'. In addition, their song titles read like a random assembly of phrases taken from the hundreds of evil, occult black and death metal acts to come before. "Nocturnal Litanies of the Judas Goat". "Goatlord of Unholy Sodomy". Yes, they read like an Impaled Nazarene tribute band.

However, once we cut to the meat of the infernal matter, Goatlord only vaguely resembles the aforementioned Canadian icons of the underground. A crudely composed hybrid of black and death metal this is, but it's far less polished and aggressive, and deviates quite a lot from that group's straightforward path of assault. Of the six tracks here, only half are actual metal tracks. "The Fiery Curse" is this bizarre, spoken word incantation of damnation, dowsed in an accent that makes it a wee bit difficult to take seriously. "Nocturnal Litanies of the Judas Goat" sets a dark, horrific ambient atmosphere which provides the most absorbing material to be had here. Lastly, "Nuclear Warheads of the Final Descent" is naught but grimy guitars hammering and wailing without much of a structure other than pissing you off, a waste of space that is basically used to extend the brief release another 2 minutes and make use of a swell song title.

When it comes to the metallic content itself, there are about six minutes of it, if we include the pathetic, 45 second "Demonic War Cult" with a riff, wailing solo, and a couple of snarls. What strikes me as regrettable is that Goatvomit are actually capable of formulating decent death and thrash metal riffs, like that which begins about :40 into "Goatlord of Unholy Sodomy". But the godawful production, bevy of grunts and sneers, and drums that sound as if they were being recorded in the neighbor's garage, it's difficult not to want more. The same could be said for the other metal track of note, "Lord Baphomet's Wrath", which manifests some half-decent old school death metal amidst the generally wild ass guitar patterns.

I don't mind toilet level productions if the music is great, but in this case it doesn't really help either way. These Greeks seem to be having fun within their chosen medium of blasphemy, but apart from the initial and fickle reaction at the sloppy blasting and grinding, or the band name and song titles, there's just little resonant to be found here, outside of maybe the vile dark ambient track. Unless you're into some pretty primitive shit (Blasphemy, Archgoat and old Beherit come to mind, in addition to Impaled Nazarene) and seeking trivial pursuits with repeated use of the go-to generic Satanic scape-'goat', you might want to skip this. I wouldn't call it awful, but it has all been done better. Much better. Numerous times.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Goatvomit are to Beherit what Proclamation are to Blasphemy. By that, I mean they are a direct clone, but a damn good one. So although they really bring nothing remotely original to the table, they still take the old Beherit formula and sound and recreate it in a way that really brings them to mind like no other band has really managed to do. I bet if you showed this to someone and said it was some lost ‘Oath of Black Blood’-era Beherit rehearsal, they’d probably believe you. They’re THAT similar.

The production on here is a little better then the demo, but it’s still extremely lo-fi. But of course, when it’s put into context, it’s perfectly fitting for the sound they were going for. Everything sounds a bit distant and very muddy, but not to the point where anything is lost in the messy, thick, blackened haze. My only real complaint is the drum sound, which is mostly just hi-hat, crash cymbals and snare, with absolutely no bass drum presence. But again, when you look at it in a contextual manner, then it all makes perfect sense.

Intros and interludes take up about half of the EPs playing time, which in some cases would suck, but here, it really does not bother me, but only because their intros and interludes are actually really cool. The first one contains an organ and a priest preaching fire and damnation for all eternity. Quite fitting given the nature of the band. It builds in intensity as it goes on and ends with some tympanis and cymbals, which leads me to believe it’s just a sample, but it’s well put together. The second intro, and the third track on the EP, is much more atmospheric, with a droning synth and some pitch sifted moans and Gregorian chants. The last one contains a Blasphemy-esque guitar feedback and whammy bar freakout, which is a good way to finish things off.

The music itself is far more disturbing however, and of course takes up the better half of the EP. Two out of the three members contribute vocals, and they pull off the double vocal attack very well. Both use the signature Nuclear Holocausto-like whisper growl, and incorporate lots of vomit-inducing grunts and “eeuuuggghhhhh”s to add even more vileness to the Beherit-worshipping mayhem that they specialize in. The riffs are, as expected, very simplistic, each one containing no more then four to eight notes, and each song only contains maybe 2 or 3 of these said riffs. Where some may find this boring, those into this style will certainly be satisfied with them. The drums blast away where necessary, but also slow down from time to time as well, but rarely do they get off track, so ultimately they get the job done.

So it goes without saying that if you’re looking for melody, clean production, and coherency, then look elsewhere, as this is nothing but chaotic Beherit-worship of the highest order. Although it’s nothing original, it’s still damn good for what it is, and should be approached with that kind of mindset.