Goat hates the concept of giving the “benefit of the doubt” when it comes to music reviews. Too often, reviewers claim an album needs several listens to be rated properly. Whatever happened to trusting instincts? In our Goat’s view, this search for redeeming qualities often leads to softening critiques. But with Grendel’s Sÿster’s Katabasis into the Abaton / Abstieg in die Traumkammer, he knew immediately—no doubt about it.
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Feind – Ambulante Hirnamputation Review
Ever met an Icelandic black metal fan? You know the kind that insists that the origin of a band, despite the advancements in communication technology, fully informs their sound — transforming music into something akin to a champagne than an artistic discipline that can be studied, imitated, and paid homage to. No, of course you haven’t. That’s why you’re hear, ready to read a deathgrind review. Good taste comes to those who grind.
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Vanessa Funke – Void Review
Funke writes and writes. It almost makes the album name Void quite ironic as that’s the opposite of her discography. However, it is an apt fit for the melancholic tone she often adopts for her work. Last time around I wanted more of that bleak, sad goodness in Funke’s work. Will she fill that Void?
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Nyktophobia – To The Stars Review
For those who do not know, Nyktophobia means a fear of the dark. I imagine a full quarter of those reading this have started whistling or imitating the air raid siren. Nyktophobia don’t have any particular ties to that sound, but it’s still a good name for them as their fourth album, To The Stars, features a dark and emotional take on melodic death metal.
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Crypts of the Unknown: Incubator – McGillroy the Housefly
Join us as Scuttlegoat reminisces on Incubator’s 1992 release McGillroy the Housefly. Oh, never heard of it? Well here in the Crypts we specialize in the unknown, the uncelebrated, and the uncovered, no matter how recent or distant. We can’t keep all our dirty little secrets… How’d you miss the buzz on ol’ McGillroy?
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Infestus – Entzweiung Review
Entzweiung is a mix of black metal and post metal that seeks to find the grandest, coldest ideas from both. The word “brooding” springs to mind repeatedly. The result is a set of songs that gradually but surely build into soul-scraping fury — let them infest your ears.
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Vanessa Funke – Remains Review
If you have heard of Vanessa Funke, then you have probably heard of her prodigious productivity. The one woman German melodeath act has released four EPs and three full-lengths in the last three years. It’s the sort of scheduling that leads to skepticism from many. Will her latest release prove disbelievers wrong, or is it all just funky business? Peat ponders.
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Maere – …and the Universe Keeps Silent Review
The best works of dissonant avant-garde metal shed the harmonic framework of power chords, blues scales and chord-scale approaches to soloing to explore something else. Maere, however, do not manage the feat of deconstruction, an approach that, after the old structures have broken down, needs something additional in the new space. That is to say, the fancy prance of a young buck isn’t always enough to sway our Goat.
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The Vision Bleak – Weird Tales Review
Scuttlegoat has been a fan of The Vision Bleak for decades at this point. Their unique style of gothic metal inspired by the classic era of Universal horror films masterfully melds the usual overbearing cheese of the genre with an unusual crushing guitar tone. Is the forecast for the new album looking bleak?
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Crypts of the Unknown: Blunt Force Trauma – Vengeance for Nothing
