Archgoat - Whore of Bethlehem
March 21 2008 at 12:39:19 AM
One of Finland's earliest known Black Metal groups, Archgoat had been active since the late Eighties until their breakup in 1993. Whore of Bethlehem marks their first ever full-length record comprised of all new material. What several bands have since latched onto, sounding dated and at the expense of an individual thought, Archgoat authenticates. The kind of primitive, blank, seemingly mindless energy directed out from the drum work anchors the intention—possessed and animated like the hellish toil of a medieval fresco—humorless, miserable. The sound is back-lit by infrequent keyboard drones as rhythms gallop and grind with a Punkish simplicity that underlines every violent stroke. Repetition multiplies the intensity. Retaining the unpolished sound of their early releases, de-stressed guitars move in tones of ominous density with an earthly decomposition of voices and tempo that circles through each track as if tied by a chain. A surprising and fitting end-note to the region's legacy.
[Todd DePalma]
Archgoat
Whore of Bethlehem
2006
Hammer of Hate
http://www.hammer-of-hate.cjb.net
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