Goatlord Corp. «Early Beginnings of War» MCD

Recently enough, I was on a hunt for new black metal bands to listen to. Being a sucker for most French black metal bands, when Goatlord Corp. came into view in some way or another, I decided to give these guys a listen. Most members within this band were or are still part of great bands such as Merrimack, Arkhon Infaustus, and Hell Militia. From the title of the EP to the artwork and the song titles, this EP can easily come across as just another generic attempt at the so-called black metal sub-genre «war metal». Although I believe that the majority of the French black metal bands I’ve ever listened to have managed to keep me interested in their music and prompted me to follow their career, I have to admit from the get-go that this is not the case with Goatlord Corp.

This EP is a quarter of an hour long and consists of 4 songs. The overarching theme of this EP as is entirely made obvious with all the theatrics and shenanigans associated with this band is war. However, unlike bands such as Blasphemy and Revenge, these guys can’t seem to grasp the whole concept and the whole idea behind creating a genuine black/death release. When listening to this album, I’m mostly reminded of the second wave of black metal sound pioneered by Mayhem and their Norwegian peers, with a tinge of death metal to keep the music «interesting». However, there’s literally nothing interesting on this release. Every single song just sounds like the previous one. The structures of the songs are all-alike. There’s literally no atmosphere or ambiance and it seems that the album tries to rely only on its sheer raw power it projects.

This release contains only a few riffs which might stick to the listener for a few months after listening to this EP, nothing more. Most songs consist of tremolo-picked power chords going down and up the fretboard frantically ala-Marduk. At least, the guitar work is kept at an interesting pace, the lead guitars don’t go all maniacal and somehow manage to keep the listener intrigued up to a certain point. The vocals are pretty well executed, even if they sound simply average and uninspired. They are mixed well and do not overpower the other instruments or vice-versa. The drumming is pretty standard Hellhammer-esque constant blast-beating with little to no interesting fills or techniques. The only interesting thing about the drums is the abrupt timing changes which occur throughout most songs when at one point the drummer is going on a total fucking rampage and then slows down to accompany a mid-paced riff. If this EP had a bassist contributing to it he probably just followed exactly what the guitars did because I couldn’t tell the two instruments apart.

However, there’s a lot more stuff which irked me a lot about this release. First of all is the band’s very liberal use of «satanic cliches». I can overlook naming a song «Tormentor 666», but I simply can’t fucking ignore the fact that the word «Satan» is repeated ad-nauseum throughout the whole fucking release. The lyrics are pretty juvenile and outdated by a couple of decades. Another very important draw-back which disappointed me a lot is the sound of the drum-cymbals, especially the god-damn high-hats. They sound so muddy and digital at the same time that they leave little room for enjoyment and simply make the drums frankly unlistenable and unenjoyable. On the other hand, the guitar-tone is simply magnificent and very evocative of previous black metal generations in a good way. The guitar sound comes off as more of a tribute to the old ones who created this underground art, rather than simple parroting. Unfortunately, as I’ve already made pretty clear though, the same cannot be said about the derivative nature of the riffs.

I recommend this release for anyone who’s into derivative, straight-to-the-point, no bullshit allowed black metal because that is exactly what this EP is all about. This release is second-wave worship at its average level. Goatlord Corp. doesn’t offer anything new or exciting to the mix, they’re just another band in the plethora of other bands who like to play an average-level style of black metal. Don’t expect anything ground-breaking or remarkable. Just expect the expected, that’s basically it.