Archgoat - The Light-Devouring Darkness
Blasphemous Underground
Black Metal
10 songs (29:57)
Release year: 2009
Reviewed by Charles
I guess you don’t get any bigger descriptive clichés than “raw” as it relates to black metal, so applying it to the latest Archgoat will likely tell you very little. Does it signify ear-shredding sandblasting a la Nattens Madrigal? Relentless blasting? Or garage-band scuzz a la Black Witchery? Actually, in this case, you can go with the latter.

This is highly entertaining , gleefully unreconstructed black metal, simplistic and catchy. It has a grimy, fuzzy sound, as if it been recorded during an impromptu piss-up in hell’s basement. But that belies the eminently competent musicianship and serviceable riffsmanship, which succeed in bringing The Light-Devouring Darkness onto the right side of the “amateurish rubbish/necro credibility” tightrope that many black metal bands must walk. Its crusty, punky energy breathes stale, maggoty air into a well-worn formula.

As eerie synths give way to the chaotic rapidfire blast of Apotheosis of Lucifer the band’s stall is set out. The running time is only 29 minutes, and the listener is clearly told not to expect any surprises. But there is sufficient intelligence here to give the album purposes and substance, mainly achieved through mixups in the pacing. Goat and the Moon slows the tempo right down to a funereal trudge, creepy and atmospheric; a welcome break from the more straightforward onslaught of much of the remainder. Plenty of fun is to be had with the cartoonishly goatraping Satanism, (“Sodomator of the Doomen Venus”), but of course this all adds to the charm of a record such as this. Throughout, the vocals are suitably inhuman; a faded belch of indecipherable obscenities.

Whilst this is hardly exciting, it is an enjoyable record that will probably satisfy primitive urges. Devoid of pretension and dripping with bloody blasphemy, it works very well on its own goat-horned terms.

Killing Songs :
Goat and the Moon, Apotheosis of Luciferi
Charles quoted 73 / 100
Other albums by Archgoat that we have reviewed:
Archgoat - Worship the Eternal Darkness reviewed by Goat and quoted 83 / 100
Archgoat - The Luciferian Crown reviewed by Goat and quoted 80 / 100
Archgoat - The Apocalyptic Triumphator reviewed by Goat and quoted 75 / 100
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