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BLACK GOAT  self-titled  LP   (Lyderhorn)   11.98


Primitive, thrashy and vicious, Black Goat were a crucial piece of the San Francisco black metal puzzle; not only was this '90s outfit one of the earliest proponents of black metal in the Bay Area metal scene, but Black Goat also gave birth to two of the most infamous underground metal bands to come out of San Fran: Weakling and Lord Weird Slough Feg. While they were active for years in the Bay Area, Black Goat only recorded one CDR that was recorded live at the radio station KVDS, later reissued through Nuclear war Now! on CD and through Lyderhorn as this here LP.

The music on this LP is everything that the short-lived Black Goat ever recorded, their entire existence captured and documented across the two sides of the record, eight songs of crude blackened thrash that sounds like the band was simultaneously invoking the primitive sounds of Venom and the raw sound of early Bay Area thrash metal. The mix is rough but powerful, recorded live in the studio at the Davis, CA radio station KDVS in 1997, and prior to this reissue had only been available as a CD-R that was primarily available direct from the band and from Blackmetal.com . Some of the members would go on to form the aforementioned Weakling and Slough Feg after the demise of Black Goat, but this sounds little to nothing like either of those bands; songs like "Human Sacrifice" and "Mortis Extremis" strafe my ears like early Exodus and Metallica being filtered through the nocturnal Norwegian blaze of Darkthrone and Venom's primitivism, complete with delicious mid-tempo circle pit thrash and ferocious speed-picking, jackhammer speed and crushing distorted basslines. The vocals are pretty wrecked, though, usually belted out in a weird groaning croak that is totally indecipherable, and at their most wasted actually remind me a little of Attila Csihar. Black Goat were so much more energetic and riff-oriented than yer typical traditional black metal band, and fans of raw, primitive BM who are tired of hearing the same old rehash should check Black Goat out if you haven't heard them yet. Mostly mid-paced and thrashy, the band also slips into passages of droning, pummeling hypnosis and dissonant riffing as well as the occasional bluesy soloing that sounds more like something from a NWOBHM album than the filthy, bestial blackthrash yer hearing. Great stuff! The Lyderhorn LP is limited edition, and features top-notch artwork from Ben West (one of the main guys behind Oaken Throne magazine); this is one grisly slab of obscure blackened violence.