goatwhore live

For those of you who 'like it a little rough' it is my hearty recommendation that you haul yourself to a Goatwhore show, pronto. Yes, a perverse and penetrating assault on your ear canals will ensue, and you'll go home feeling very dirty, but it only hurts the first time, and you will end up going back for more, despite yourself.

A shameful defacement of the virtue of Wilmington, North Carolina metal fans occurred on October 9, 2010 when Goatwhore pillaged The Soapbox Laundro-Lounge as direct support for the Black Dahlia Murder. Yes, the venue is exactly what the name implies, a music club / laundromat rolled into one. You can clean your clothes on the ground floor, while you sneak upstairs to dirty your mind. It's all about balance.

Hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana, Goatwhore are a band who fit into no specific genre, but much like a genetically gifted child, have inherited the most superior qualities from all genres. Incorporating elements of thrash, death, and black metal, and citing bands like Celtic Frost, Judas Priest and Morbid Angel as major influences, they possess a sound very uniquely their own, and rivaled by none. As one fan eagerly stated after the show, 'I had never heard them before tonight... and they don't sound like anyone else I can think of, but man, they sound AWESOME.'

Boasting a ten song set, teeming with rapid-fire blast beats, vicious riffs, dense, formidable bass lines, and sludge and venom vocals, these metal angels, with their wings of black, and halos of razor wire, bestowed upon the crowd an aural assault so vicious, it was like having the skin burned from your face with a mixture of napalm and lye - but in a very pleasing way.

Seven of the ten songs performed were from Goatwhore's latest album, Carving Out the Eyes of God, and while the entire set was brutal, and chock full of gems, Reckoning of the Soul Made Godless, track seven off of Carving... is a damn fine piece of brilliance that they just recently began playing live on a regular basis, and one can only hope it stays part of the set list indefinitely - it's a relentless, aggressive, earsplitting masterpiece that translates beautifully live. Reliable and ubiquitous crowd favorites Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult (A Haunting Curse, 2006) and Apocalyptic Havoc (Carving...) never disappoint, and always rattle the joint to its rafters. This night was no different. From opening note, to closing fist bump, the show was nothing short of a forty five minute machine gun blast to the tympanic membranes.

One can never do justice to the live presentation Goatwhore offers without mentioning that they are not only EAR-GASMIC, but are a full buffet for ALL the senses. Notorious for their musky “metal bouquet” of Limburger cheese and battery acid, (envision being “blast-tested” in the face at the fragrance counter in hell, by Satan himself) and visually impactive stage presence, there is not one cranial nerve in the human brain that will not be hyper-stimulated by the merciless presence of these masters of aromatic metal malevolence.

Guitarist Sammy Duet, brilliant riff-master, and mad-genius / co-songwriter for the band (with drummer Zack Simmons) displays some of the most fluid, morphing, demonic facial expressions while playing, that just to stare at his visage while he churns out his sick string-work is akin to dropping a little acid in your Pabst Blue Ribbon tall-boy before letting the metal games begin.

Couple that with the mind-boggling speed of maniacal drummer Zack Simmons, and the imposing silhouette, strength, and brute force of bassist James Harvey, you have a musical trifecta so heavy hitting and violent, that it rattles you to your very core, and threatens to turn your soft, fragile innards to paste.

Providing the pipes to punctuate the instrumentation, is frontman Ben Falgoust. A highstrung piece of gristle, raw and vehement, he snaps from one side of the stage to the the other like a tautly wound human slingshot. Vicious physical gesticulations, and primal, snarling vocals from a place much darker than Hades spew forth, pummeling your eyes and ears, until you're rendered powerless to resist the defilement. Don't bother trying. Ride it out. You'll be glad you did.

If you're ready for the taste of Goatwhore, don't be bashful about it. Get thee to the front of the stage and promptly commence to some open mouthed screaming. There's a better than excellent chance you'll catch some generous sweat droplets. 'Chicken Soup for the Metal Lover's Soul'!

All in all, a scrumptious feast for every sense - a 'delish metal dish' requiring only four ingredients: red meat, true grit, ferocity, and hellfire. Agitate viciously, and serve scalding.

Bon Appetit! \m/

by Aline Miladinovich