They Say : - Over the course of nearly 15 years and an incalculable amount of tour miles, New Orleans’ own Goatwhore have inadvertently established themselves as one the most diligent and consistently ferocious bands of the 21st century. Forged in fire by ex-Acid Bath/Crowbar guitarist Sammy Duet in ’97, their storied legacy follows a dramatic —and often traumatic — series of line-up shifts, injuries, hauntings, natural disasters and an assortment of other mishaps large and small. But, driven by a blood oath to heavy metal and perhaps the powers of Satan himself, Goatwhore forever persevere.
In 2012, Goatwhore again raise their cloven hoofs in salutation to Blood for the Master. Now featuring Duet, Falgoust, Simmons and bassist James Harvey, who joined the goaty ranks in 2009 following the departure of Nathan Bergeron, the record finds Louisiana’s notorious metal horde at their most unified. Recorded and mixed at Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida with long-time friend/producer Erik Rutan, who worked with Goatwhore on both Carving… and A Haunting Curse, the ten-track, 38-minute Blood for the Master is epic in sound, mind and execution.
We Say :- Goatwhore’s ‘Blood for the Master’ continues where 2009’s ‘Carving out the Eyes of God’ left off. It takes there self-tagged Blackened Death Metal and makes it that little more accessible. This current release has some fast paced Thrashy riffs and contains by far the most guitar solos you’ll find in their back catalogue. There’s also quite a big glossy production and a guitar sound that wouldn’t sound out of place on one of Roadrunner Records big unit shifters.
Goatwhore haven’t gone soft though. Far from it in fact, they are just better equipped to bludgeon you.
‘Blood for the Master’ starts off at full pelt and doesn’t stop until the finish. Ben Falgoust delivers his usual relentless Venom inspired vocal like a deranged vicar on speed. There are not many long intros into tracks here, no time for a build-up; it’s straight into the song with a mouth full of bile every time. The rest of the band is not far behind either, with pounding riffs dominating the album and crashing drums adding to the chaos.
As ferocious and unrelenting as the album is, it doesn’t become tiresome. Clocking in at a near perfect 38 minutes and none of the tracks making it near the 5 minute mark are part of the appeal. More importantly, the thirty-odd minutes you do get are pretty damn exciting.
Goatwhore are not Louisiana’s typical slow-plodding sludge covered export. From the opener ‘Collapse in Eternal Worth’ right through to the mouthful of a closer ‘My Name is Frightful Among Believers’ the album has you by the throat. Things do get mixed up a bit from time to time. There are some cookie monster vocals on tracks such as ‘In Deathless Tradition’ and sometimes things get a bit punky. Goatwhore mainly stick to the winning formula for the majority of the ride however.
The only downside is that the end of the album creeps up on you with such stealth. All you have to do is press play again though!
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