Goatwhore's latest both pummels and rocks the listener
Goatwhore's latest release 'A Haunting Curse' is not actually one of the albums that will haunt the listener, coming back to them time and time again after they've heard it; what it will do though is provide the listener with 40 minutes of brutally heavy blackened-death-rock (or whatever you want to call it these days). With their third album in twice as many years, Goatwhore have really hit the mark and produced a highly entertaining little CD.
The sound is not altogether unlike recent Darkthrone releases as a point of reference; dirty pummelling black metal with a distinct rock 'n' punk ethos to the song writing. Variety is not the word of the day, all the songs feature the same mixture of pummelling riffs, breakneck drumming and angry proclaimed vocals but this doesn't really matter at all. Infact, each song taken individually may well be weaker than the whole 40 minute experience.
The drumming is interesting, it is insistent and pounding but actually lacks a lot of the power of the blast beats utilised by so many other black metal bands. The drumming sounds like it could be something much meatier and something with much more substance, and whilst it's obviously a conscious choice of the band to have the style that they do, that little change could have made the music sound so much more. The vocals of singer Falgoust are also atypical of what many would associate with Black metal, no piercing shriek or bestial howl here but more of an angry ranting shout against the world, luckily, it works, and very well at that.
On the whole this is an enjoyable album, like many other releases recently it straddles the line between Black Metal and other alternative genres with ease and presents something rather atypical, yet still rather enjoyable to listen to. Despite a few nagging little problems that I could find, this is an inventive and pleasing listen for anyone who likes their metal extreme, heavy, or both!