Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Goatlord

Goatlord is hands-down my favorite Darkthrone release, simply because it is merely an old practice tape they later overdubbed with some bizarre non-sequitur vocals. The result is discomforting and intimate. Musically, this is some of Darkthrone's most interesting material. Before the icy blur of Transylvanian Hunger, Darkthrone were a bit more experimental and some of the work here sounds almost like the angular, instrumental math rock that was popular a few years later in the states. Many dismiss this as mere filler in the otherwise stellar Darkthrone discography, but to them I say, eat a bag of dicks. This is the most kult release by the most kult band. That alone should be enough for you.



22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome! I too love this release. It really is odd how misunderstood and underrated this release is.

- Dave

NICKTHRONE said...

i hate the vocals. its unlistenable. get the frostland tapes. it has the original mix without the shitty overdubbed vocals

TMM said...

Eat a bag of dicks is right....and choke to death on the last one!!!!!Filler.....psssshhhh!!!!!!Some of my all time favorite riff. Especially the one on Green Cave Float at the exact time Fenriz is singing the operatic vocals.Just too good.No problem with the vocals whatsoever.at the least entertaining!!!!!

anyone out there pick up the part where they recreate the Children of the Corn theme. I can't remember the name of the song but I've heard it clearly a ton of times.......cool as hell......

TMM said...

and my copy of the Frostland Tapes doesn't have any songs from Goatlord.Instrumental demos but not the same ones............

lou ghee said...

My favorite darkthrone, along with panzerfaust.

Anonymous said...

it is indeed the vocals that make this an outstanding album

Anonymous said...

I like Darkthrone a lot, but never heard this one yet... looking forward, thanks

chris said...

very interested on this, thanks

Aesop said...

I have some more tests in the works from some surprising folks. Who's the creepy dude from Oxnard?

Nickthrone said...

this is the original GOATLORD. it also has a FENRIZ drum solo

http://www.mediafire.com/?zymtxzmymz5

KingVold said...

I ahve to agree on how awesome the frostland tapes version is. That entire comp. is awesome and shows the roots of the greatest Black Metal abnd ever.

Nickthrone said...

yes!!! greatest black metal band ever! besides LUDICRA of course

s. said...

By far the greatest Darkthrone album. There's nothing wrong with the vocals, the production is spot-on and the tunes are consistently destroying.

The Frostland tapes version has a heavily inferior fidelity, type fifteenth generation tape dub. This is due to it being sourced from the Clamor bootleg (much like Peaceville has loved to copy bootlegs the last ten years, though their favorite one is the Roots of evilness live show from Denmark.) It sounds like a shit tape dub 'cause that's what it is. The actual record is ninety thousand times better.

On the A night of unholy black metal bootleg there's also a live recording from Finland in '91 where the band shuffle through a couple of the Goatlord tunes, sans vocals here also. It's not as good as the "finished" record or the Under a funeral moon era rehearsal tracks on the same boot.

ido said...

Am just starting to get into DARKTHRONE but have enjoyed everything I've heard thus far. Am looking forward to digging into this one.

Helm said...

This is my favourite Darkthrone material as well. I really like the vocals. It's really strange to read all these negative reviews saying the music is great but the vocals ruin it... they make the album for me.

Roger Camden said...

for me, not their best
it's a tie between transilvanian hunger and panzerfaust
(black flags and dark thrones is also good, now that I think about it)
however, goatlord is certainly their strangest record

RyGar said...

I was going to pass this one up. Darkthrone is good, but they don't get a lot of rotation at my place. The comments section seemed ablaze, though, and now I'm curious as to what all the fuss is about.

dustinswanson said...

great as always! this is definitely more on the soulside journey side of darkthrone. i sometimes wonder how history would be effected if they stuck with that sound.

e normous said...

never got into any Darkthrone except for some stuff on the demos (some utterly brilliant moments there...)

but...let's see how this one is again...

BradethQ said...

You've inspired me to dust my copy off. I haven't bothered to listen to it in years. Fenriz doing the lady-vocals is pretty awesome though.

Anonymous said...

The music is fantastic. I was immediately captured within the first few seconds of Rex. ... Then came the vocals. I think I can get used to/over them, but the instrumentation is too unique to miss. Thanks so much for this, anyway.

DarknessMartyr said...

Darkthrone is AMAZING loved this post keep em comming