Archgoat – The Light Devouring Darkness
Right from the first notes The Light Devouring Darkness blasts away without mercy or compassion.
I was expecting this all the way through the album but to my surprise, Archgoat have added some subtle touches to break up the blasts, which was a good move because it could have quickly become really boring without them.
In parts it drops into Sabbath-style slow chugging and there are even some medieval monk-like singing parts that add a dark, sinister undertone to it. Then they speed up again and obliterate the oasis of atmosphere. It shouldn’t work but it does. For best results, your bass setting needs to be turned up full to max-out the massive meatiness of the production. In fact it’s so meaty that I’m convinced the drummer is smacking choice cuts of beef in the cold store of their local butcher’s.
As you would expect from Archgoat there are no pre-pubescent screeching or high-pitched vocals here. The singing is funny as fuck, in a good way. It fits the music perfectly and the vocalist sounds like a drunken Uruk-hai warlord gargling with lava at the Khazad-dûm karaoke.
The album has a simplistic feel to it as it crashes away and, aside from the subtle touches mentioned above, is mostly predictable. The guitar work is catchy in parts but ultimately is pretty much bog-standard and the drumming is for the most part ‘utility’ drumming.
Tha’s how it is meant to be though. This album isn’t out to win any technical composure competitions as it raises its middle finger and smashes anything that gets in its way. For Archgoat fans this is great stuff and a definite improvement overall. For non-fans of the band it might leave many wondering how you could like it as it defies many of the rules of traditional BM.
This is about as heavy as you can get and still call yourself BM. Musically, the sound on ‘The Light-Devouring Darkness’ is about 80% DM but the structure of the songs, certain riffs and the singing root it firmly on the side of BM.
Archgoat have made a much more polished and brutal record here when you compare it to ‘The Whore of Bethlehem’. Personally, I like it, but this is definitely a love it or hate it album. Every goat for himself on this one.
Black Metal is dead. In the UK at least. Seeing as though it is the place that gave birth to the genre it is as fuckin’ useless a broke-dick dog. There is no scene to speak of, just the odd one or two equally useless bands trying in vain to mimic some of the more [...]
Opening with a song title of the length Bal Sagoth would be proud of (thankfully that’s as the only comparison to draw), the imaginatively titled ‘A Glimpse of the Image of Lucifer Gleaming Beyond the Subterraneous Black Sun’ marches forth. Mid paced, it stamps away with the precision of a well oiled Black Metal machine [...]
Im not a big fan of archgoat but this stuff is decent enough to butcher me..
Salve the Goatmetal legions of devotees black blood reigns this cult brutal comback to infernal malefic supremacy!!!