underground_blasphemies: Archgoat ""The Apocalyptic Triumphator" Debemur Morti Productions (2015)

Archgoat spewed forth their latest offering to the world this year with "The Apocalyptic Triumphator". Behold, for it is their strongest work to date in my opinion. While the artwork is as straightforward as it gets, the music is by no means simple. The line up in this record are: Lord Angelslayer in bass & vocals; Ritual Butcherer in the guitars and songwriting too; Sinisterror in drums.

The thing that strikes me the most is how much Archgoat have grown since their unhallowed resurrection from the black abyss. Whore of Bethlehem is in-your-face flaying heaviness. The Light-Devouring Darkness continues the blasphemous black crusade with more polished sound while missing bits and pieces of the raw energy found in their debut. Come 2015, the band presented to us what can be described as the absolute manifestation of the very black art that they live by and die for.

The track list are:

Side A:

1. Intro (Left Hand Path)

2. Nuns, Cunts and Darkness

3. The Apocalyptic Triumphator

4. Phallic Desecrator of Sacred Gates

5. Grand Luciferian Theophany

6. Those Below (Who Dwell in Hell)

Side B:

7. Intro (Right Hand Path)

8. Congregation of Circumcised

9. Sado-Magical Portal

10. Light of Phosphorus

11. Profanator of the 1st Commandment

12. Funeral Pyre of Trinity

The pieces its an amazing blasphemous like “Nuns, Cunts and Darkness” is just the kind of song title you’d expect to get from Archgoat. Starting off with the traditional esophagus-crushing riff played over choked cymbal, it is a solid offering that sets the stage for what’s to come on the rest of the album. This particular song stays true to the band’s roots. Yes. They need not to change anything.

Archgoat managed to inject profane surprises into each song. The vocals are still the same with occasional scream in between but this time, spoken parts made a brief cameo as well and they are very clearly heard. The best example for this would be “Grand Luciferian Theophany” where all the more cliché “Hail Satan” and “Hail Lucifer” are chanted repeatedly.

While Archgoat are often not associated with pure blinding speed like other bands in the same Satanic den, “Phallic Desecrator of Sacred Gates” and “Congregation of Circumcised” have top-notch speed that is not quite prominent in their previous releases. “Phallic Desecrator of Sacred Gates” also opens with drum rolls I have never heard of in their career, particularly in their last two full lengths. This fact proves to be a valuable addition to the band style of playing which indicates that they have progressed somehow while obstinately retaining the concept that they helped conceived from the very first day.

Another element that makes this record a winner is the surprising inclusion of lead solos, albeit sparsely. As I said, the lead guitar is employed sparingly but to a greater effect that it does not bore you in the long run. The solos are of course non melodic, they are instead sinister in nature, like a wolf lurking among the woods at night, stalking your every move before it jumps on you to disembowel you alive. Correct me if I’m wrong but this is the first time in my life that I get to hear Angelslayer’s bass solo on the middle section of “Funeral Pyre of Trinity”, which is yet another great surprise from this record.

Personally, this is the most brilliant work by Archgoat. Just the kind of output that is to be expected from the trio of Satanic crusaders from Finland. The band have definitely grown in the music department. The production is clear and subtle but it is no less aggressive from their previous offerings. Despite the blackening progression, the message behind their music remains the same; defilement of all things holy, adulation to the horned Lord, and the ever-present play on private parts, with the band now targeting a group of circumcised men of God for irreverent desecration. The Apocalyptic Triumphator is indeed a triumphant achievement for Archgoat. It is a surprise that many people have yet to review this disgusting masterpiece.