Straight of the proverbial bat, I’m just gonna say this is fucking excellence of the highest order. Yes, I’m a huge fan of many a band as you well know, but these guys bring a whole new level of utter brilliance to the show, and you’d be some sort of goddamn idiot to miss out on the awesome that Blasphemer bring. To make things a lot easier, I have the luxury of providing you with two links that will get the unknowing up to speed, and it serves me well to not have to spend most of my time giving you their background, as awesome as it may be. Read on, come back, and let us all bask in the excellence together.
https://themetalwanderlust.com/2018/10/12/album-review-blasphemer-blasphemer/
https://themetalwanderlust.com/2018/10/13/interview-blasphemer/
Up to date now? Yes, call it lazy, but there is quite some history there, and last years release, the self titled “Blasphemer” (sneaking in on the first of January) is the absolute ducks guts when it comes to Old School Death Metal. The next question is, have they managed to surpass the last on this release? Well fuck me with the rough end of a pineapple if they haven’t just done so. “The Lust of the Goat” has Dewsbury’s finest hitting even more levels of sheer aural perfection, combined with a great deal of nasty buggery and general evil shenanigans.
As for the album title, I don’t personally know how horny a goat can get, because I don’t own one, and luckily for us I think this refers more to old mate Satan than anyone else, mind you, Mass and co seem to have a way with words that some of us mere mortals may just not get, so we will take it as it is, and then marvel at the wonder contained within. Shall we continue? Good plan I reckon.
So if ‘Blasphemer’ was a twenty five year building process, then surely this release is the fact that not only have they got over that hurdle, but also that they are a far more leaner, meaner, fucked up fighting machine. More direct, more vicious, and way more focused if that is at all possible. Yes, I gave their ‘debut’ a five from five, and you can already see where this is headed. One of the best things about this band, is their ability to not just cave in your noggin with brutality, but to match that hammering with a damn good tale or two, and here is where Mass shines as an orator of the highest order.
When on “Corpse River” he barks out the words “Ten thousand souls, cast in the mire”, you know it’s not just shit talk. He’s been to hell, or maybe the Styx itself, and back. Or is that so? On tracks such as “Child Catcher” he is actually relating to a famous man and the utter sickness within, the sheer horror that one man can do when seen by the rest of the world as a good person, and yet behind the veneer of supposed sanity lies a cruel untouchable monster.
“Suicidal Execution” contains some of the finest riffs known to man, almost a touch or more of Thrash involved, and is a tale of grooming, murder, and yes, ultimate demise. “Ratlines” is as sinister a song as you could find, and becomes the closest to any old school Thrash band as one can do when dealing with a song about subterfuge and the Vatican, and regardless of whether you are old school or not, is a fucking killer, no bones about it.
Onto my fave (a damn hard choice mind you), “The Scythe”. Fuck man. The whole thing just screams EPIC right at you. A rumbling riff-fest, a concise display of just how good fellow band members Arno (Guitar), Dan (Drums), and Dale (Bass) are at their chosen sport. This is the kind of song that just keeps on giving. This is Metal, and as Metal as fuck. “Nazarene” takes us out, and I wonder what that is about. No, I don’t, you’ll pick it up. Mass, if anything has one of those deliveries that you can actually listen to what he is saying without either consulting a) The Necronomicon, or b) A translator.
A superb effort, very much more in a straight line than the last one, but still as intense as all fuck, and I for one think the ability to focus on the future instead of the long wait of the past has done these lads immeasurably well. Blasphemer are stiil here after a long haul, and they are here to stay, and I thank our great Goat Lord for it. Another score of excellence from me.
Rating – 5/5.
Get horny right here baby!
The Metal Wanderlust 