ALBUM REVIEW: Angels Hung From The Arches Of Heaven – Goatwhore

New Orleans blackened thrash metal kings GOATWHORE, now in their 25th year as a band, have a whole lot of history within their city’s fabled extreme music scene. From guitarist Sammy Pierre Duet‘s time in both ACID BATH and CROWBAR, to vocalist Ben Falgoust‘s time in SOILENT GREEN and RITUAL KILLER, to their ex-members featuring in the likes of DOWN and GRAVEYARD RODEO, the sludge sound that the city has made legendary is ingrained into these musicians and it is where they made their names and honed their craft.

The music of GOATWHORE however is an even more blasphemous proposition and while the heavy sludge groove and soul of the city looms large, the band’s outlook is totally on a satanic/anti religion style with the unholy trinity mix of black, death and thrash metal taking centre stage. Their latest album Angels Hung From The Arches Of Heaven follows 2017’s Vengeful Ascension, and in that five-year gap it seems the band have gotten even heavier, darker and nastier.

After a typically ungodly and haunting intro entitled Invocation 3, the album explodes into life violently and seemingly out of nowhere with a classic example of aural violence, much like the infamous nurse appearance from The Exorcist 3, and from then on it grabs you by the throat and screams its venom right into your face for the entire duration. Led by the demonic and commanding vocals of Falgoust and the instantly recognisable guitar playing of Pierre Duet, GOATWHORE sound thrillingly vitriolic and raw throughout this album as they blast through its 12 tracks.

Born Of Satan’s Flesh, Victory Is The Lightning Of Destruction and The Devil’s Warlords all sound truly ferocious, while Ruinous Liturgy sounds like a satanic MOTÖRHEAD and Voracious Blood Fixation thunders along with a razor sharp groove. Elsewhere, the epic and sinister Weight Of A Soulless Heart is possibly the most progressive song the band have ever done while still being undeniably brutally heavy, and following that up with the berserk Nihil is a masterstroke in metal.

GOATWHORE leave the best until last however as the album concludes with And I Was Delivered From The Wound Of Perdition, a song that sees an initial gentle and beautiful guitar sound – one that brilliantly sounds like it could have come from an ACID BATH album – that segues into something more haunting before laying waste to all that is in its path with a completely soul-crushing heaviness. The results are overwhelmingly devastating and truly show the power of GOATWHORE – what a way to finish an album.

Angels Hung From The Arches Of Heaven is another devilishly brutal offering from GOATWHORE and sees the band on relentlessly savage and reenergised form with their brand of no nonsense metal going for the jugular at every chance it gets. Listening to this album reminds us fondly of the time that Falgoust had just broken his leg on tour but valiantly carried on, barking out his vocals sat atop a flight case and still giving his all. It is this love of metal and never give up attitude that makes GOATWHORE so special and this is an album that personifies this unstoppable spirit.

Rating: 9/10

Angels Hung From The Arches Of Heaven is set for release on October 7th via Metal Blade Records.

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