Goatchrist is a one man project based in Wakefield in the north of England, Dominator Xul’Ahabra being the one man in question. Goatchrist have been in existence since 2014, and Pythagoras is the bands first album. However, Dominator has not been idle in those 5 years, he has produced 2 EP’s, 5 Singles and Goatchrist has appeared on several compilations. Goatchrist’s musical style is rooted in Black Metal but is very experimental, so the material is sometimes quite a long way from an orthodox Black Metal sound. Lyrically the album is about Greek philosopher Pythagoras, one of the first Greek philosophers, you will probably remember him from maths classes. He has mainly been remembered for geometry, in particular triangles; but as with a lot of early philosophers Pythagoras worked in a lot of different areas. Pythagoras also discovered that there was a relationship between musical intervals and numerical ratios, this discovery led to the belief that the study of mathematics was the key to understanding the structure and order of the universe. Personally I love the fact that this album has highly intelligent and interesting lyrical themes.
The album kicks off with an instrumental called The Initiation Of Pythagoras by Thoth Hermes Tresmegistus, which is short and features Horns and Drums. Next comes Worlds, which is black metal with classical melodies. The track is a little reminiscent of Japanese Band Sigh, in particular their album In Somniphobia. The track is multi-layered, featuring guitars, keyboards and what sounds to me like a Mellotron. The song gets a little bit jazzy in the second half, with the addition of piano and saxophone. The Tetractys opens with a Harpsichord, before going into some fairly bouncy, mid-paced neo-classical metal. As the song progresses it gets more aggressive and heavier, with a chanting section. Pythagorean Solids opens with very aggressive, thrashy riffs that drive the track forward, before the feel of the track changes when (what sounds to me like) a Hammond Organ is added. This gives the track a feel that is similar to Solefald’s album Neonism, which also mixes black metal with big organs (Solefald have had several different styles over their career, Neonism has a very particular sound), the song also has a spoken word section, which is very effective.
Introduction To Numbers is a short instrumental featuring piano and bongos, and, as the title suggests acts as an introduction to the next track. Numbers opens with probably the most ‘Black Metal’ part of the album; fast blast beats with aggressive tremolo picked riffs over the top. After this battering the track slows down and feels relaxed and jazzy, before the tempo goes up again and again, it’s reminiscent of Sigh. The track has a very strong, classical style melody, and near the end we get another spoken word section, this time about Monads. Harmony Of The Spheres is a simple instrumental featuring beautiful swells of sound, which to my ears sound like they originated from various Tibetan Singing Bowls. Metempsychosis opens with a bass line before guitar and keyboards come in, making this a mid-tempo’d slightly bouncy bit of Black Metal. The track gets bigger and more dynamic as it goes along, until in the last third when the tempo goes up, a fast piano line is added and the track runs to the end as a tout, driving piece of Black Metal.
The album comes to an end with The Death Of Pythagoras, which feels more like a New Wave track, with maybe a little bit of Killing Joke in there as well. The Death Of Pythagoras also boasts a hidden track; after a couple of minutes of silence we get a short Electronica track to round everything off. Pythagoras is a fantastic piece of work. The problem with experimental music, is that sometimes experiments don’t work. This experiment however has been very successful. The fact that I have compared this album to Sigh’s In Somniphobia, one of the best experimental Black metal albums ever made, should highlight just how good this album is. There are a couple of issues with the sound, but as this was recorded by one person in a home studio, that is very forgivable. This is a fantastic first album, the song writing shows a lot of maturity and incredible creativity. If this is what he can do as a first album, in a home studio; who knows what masterpieces he can come up with, with a little more experience and a professional studio. Pythagoras is highly intelligent, beautifully creative, and deeply evocative album. I look forward to hearing what Goatchrist come up with next. 8/10
Introduction To Numbers is a short instrumental featuring piano and bongos, and, as the title suggests acts as an introduction to the next track. Numbers opens with probably the most ‘Black Metal’ part of the album; fast blast beats with aggressive tremolo picked riffs over the top. After this battering the track slows down and feels relaxed and jazzy, before the tempo goes up again and again, it’s reminiscent of Sigh. The track has a very strong, classical style melody, and near the end we get another spoken word section, this time about Monads. Harmony Of The Spheres is a simple instrumental featuring beautiful swells of sound, which to my ears sound like they originated from various Tibetan Singing Bowls. Metempsychosis opens with a bass line before guitar and keyboards come in, making this a mid-tempo’d slightly bouncy bit of Black Metal. The track gets bigger and more dynamic as it goes along, until in the last third when the tempo goes up, a fast piano line is added and the track runs to the end as a tout, driving piece of Black Metal.
The album comes to an end with The Death Of Pythagoras, which feels more like a New Wave track, with maybe a little bit of Killing Joke in there as well. The Death Of Pythagoras also boasts a hidden track; after a couple of minutes of silence we get a short Electronica track to round everything off. Pythagoras is a fantastic piece of work. The problem with experimental music, is that sometimes experiments don’t work. This experiment however has been very successful. The fact that I have compared this album to Sigh’s In Somniphobia, one of the best experimental Black metal albums ever made, should highlight just how good this album is. There are a couple of issues with the sound, but as this was recorded by one person in a home studio, that is very forgivable. This is a fantastic first album, the song writing shows a lot of maturity and incredible creativity. If this is what he can do as a first album, in a home studio; who knows what masterpieces he can come up with, with a little more experience and a professional studio. Pythagoras is highly intelligent, beautifully creative, and deeply evocative album. I look forward to hearing what Goatchrist come up with next. 8/10
Kaoteon: Kaoteon (Self Released) [Rich Oliver]
It’s mad to think that 2019 is almost over and even madder that we are already getting albums for release in 2020 through to review. So here it is the first review of a 2020 release from me and thankfully it is a very good one. It is the self titled third album of Lebanese blackened death metallers Kaoteon. The band have recently relocated to the Netherlands and joining frontman Walid Wolflust and guitarist Anthony Kaoteon on this album are none other than bassist Linus Klausenitzer from Obscura and drummer extraordinaire Adrian Erlandsson of At The Gates.
What we have on Kaoteon is a striking and well balanced mix of black metal and death metal with equal footing on viciousness and atmosphere. The album very much leans into the melodic side of things with strong memorable melodies in each song. All these ingredients combined make an album that is frenzied yet with an epic feel. It very much reminded me of a more death metal leaning Abbath or Dark Fortress. There is incredibly strong guitar work throughout whilst the superstar rhythm section is nothing but spectacular as you would expect and the vocals vary from violent screams to guttural growls.
The songs range from fast and ferocious to more mid placed and melodic. The songs are all very well crafted with the strong melodic guitar lines used to great effect throughout the album from relentless opener Wolves Of Chaos to the epic closer Acheronta Movebo. Having not heard the previous two Kaoteon albums I have nothing to compare it to but this is a fantastic release for those who like extreme music but with rich melodies. 8/10
Down In One: One For The Road (Self Released) [Paul Hutchings]
Meaty, muscular riffs. Gravel throated roaring vocals. Tight rhythm section. Anthemic songs which grab you by the collar and force you to bang your head. Welcome to One For The Road, debut album from Nottingham four-piece Down In One. It’s gnarly, it’s full of stoner goodness in the robust style of London biker kings Orange Goblin and it’s quite fabulous. Gon Pan’s throaty vocals fit the crunching riffage to a tee, especially on the beefier songs such as Lost Demons and Mad Gun. The guitar work of James Allsop is neat, some cutting edges adding to the thick, heaviness that this band deliver. It’s an album to party hard to, something which appears to be part of the band’s mission statement. Grab One For The Road and see for yourself. 7/10
Horned Almighty: To Fathom The Masters Grand Design (Scarlet Records) [Paul Hutchings]
Album number six by the Danish black metal outfit. I’m not familiar with much of their catalogue so working on this as a one-off album provided the chance to take it at face value. I was impressed. The driving rhythms, soaring tremolo riffing and atmospheric elements alongside the guttural voice of S combined to great effect. There’s plenty of melody underpinning the songs but the heaviness and malevolent approach rarely fades. Tracks such as Antagonism Eternal ooze with intricate patterns whilst the explosive Violent Cosmology which opens the release is aptly named. With most of the tracks of enough length to build and develop, there is plenty to embrace and immerse yourself in. Powerful passages should satisfy the old school black metal fan whilst there is enough variety to appeal to those less familiar with the band. A demonic close to the year. 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment