Review: GOATFLESH – Piligrimage to Icon of Sin

Year of release: 2020
Label: Cold Breath of Silence
Rating: 5,7 / 10

This release with doomlike name contains an EP and a demo of the Ukrainian band, guided by Baal, the vocalist of GRAVE CIRCLES and PESTE NOIRE drummer. GOATFLESH music evokes extremely contradictory feelings and suffers, in my opinion, from a crisis of uncertainty.On the compositional side, this is War Metal from the Chamber of Weights and Measures. Distinctive riffs, structures, vocals - played as a fiddle, pardon the pun. But the sound and atmosphere are not War Metal at all. It's aiming for adjacent bands like ANGELCORPSE or PERDITION TEMPLE, and there is something wrong. Adjacent bands are adjacent because they add elements of War Metal to their music, and in essence they are closer, for example, to classic Death Metal. However, GOATFLESH clearly play War Metal, and the word "clearly" must be understood broadly. It is literally sterile War Metal - smooth, neat and precise. That is, not warlike at all, military at best. There is no barbarism here, no genuine aggression, no devastating bombing, after which only scorched earth remains. Looks like GOATFLESH are people who decided to play the genre, but they don't live this music. And playing War Metal just for the riffs is a so-so thing. This is a genre where only bands like BLACK WITCHERY or REVENGE, who have more than enough talent, can surprise with their music only. The rest take their toll at the expense of pressure. We've heard what GOATFLESH is playing a billion times already, and in a more appropriate sound. Both EP and demo are quite flat. Therefore, the compilation did not leave me any fresh impressions at all. There is one track in the style of tribal ambient, which is probably intended to surprise the listener, but in fact it is not needed here.

The physical edition was released in the format of a simple digipack without lyrics, which reduces the already low value of the material. However, the lyrics can be found on the Web. Details on a video.