Picking your first official review of a new year is always a little tricky. Most well-established bands don’t release new material in January, so the promo bin generally yields the same types of promos given to our Nameless N00bs during their ritual humiliation audition cycle. As I patrolled the pit for a suitable victim, ample amounts of black metal met my gaze, not unusual in the cold winter months. I’d just finished my raw black roundup piece, so I decided to claim the debut LP from France’s Goatlord Corp. based on the silly band name alone. Further investigation gave me cause for some excitement, as drummer Alsvid and vocalist Saint Vincent of fellow noir métal français band Seth make up half the lineup. Goatlord Corp. has existed since at least 2002, but after two short EPs, the project went dormant, only to be revived 23 years later with advance singles for Temple of Serpent Whores. Was it worth the long wait? Or should this corporation have liquidated its assets to shareholders long ago?
The black metal found on Temple of Serpent Whores is a far cry from the raw black metal I just covered a week or two ago, as well as less melodic than Seth. This is a well-produced, death metal-tinged full-frontal assault led by Alsvid’s unrelenting kit abuse. That’s not to say guitarists Thavsael and Seremoth are left in the lurch; they keep up fine with the percussive pace setting. It’s just that in spite of their aggressive riffing and occasional solos, this is not a guitar-oriented record. If anything, it’s about building a cumulative, ruinous cacophony of breakneck-paced extreme metal to knock the New Year’s cobwebs from our collective brains and strip paint from any nearby furniture. Saint Vincent’s vocals are a bit shoutier than your average blackened rasps, contributing to Goatlord Corp.’s militant sound. He sprinkles in some gang shouts (the title track) and other affectations, like the guttural chant/laugh in “Strangulation Squad” for variety.
Temple of Serpent Whores by Goatlord Corp.
Easily the main draw of Temple of Serpent Whores is the unbridled hostility, but it’s the solid musicianship and well-placed flourishes that will keep listeners coming back to it. Subtle melodic undercurrents begin to emerge in third track “Iron Fire Cum” which carries through to closer “New World Preacher (9mm Of Philosophy),” which is the only track that slows to mid-tempo, but which also includes the heaviest chugging riff of the album two-thirds of the way through. The guitar solo in “Strangulation Squad” adds a touch of classical drama to the ugly proceedings, but I’m more impressed with the subtly urgent guitar wailings that zhuzh up the later half of “AR-15 Romance.”1 I mentioned Saint Vincent’s vocal affectations above, and my favorite comes in “World Wide Civil War” when, seemingly out of nowhere, he deadpans “I drink their blood.”
If there’s a drawback to crafting an unrelenting, aggressive sound, it’s uniformity. I focus on the details and flourishes because without them, a lot of this material runs together. Opener “Slave Diciplin” (sic) and the following title track establish Goatlord Corp.’s frenzied ethos, but latching onto them as repeatable songs is harder than it is in the album’s spicy mid-section. Likewise, “Glockdown” strays into generic territory before the thundering “Worldwide Civil War” regains your attention. Thankfully, the band have the good sense to keep their noisome tirade to 35 minutes in total, helping minimize the homogeneity issue.
Temple of Serpent Whores is about as aggressive as black metal gets, and it’s a solid record to get the blood pumping for an uncertain 2025. “Iron Fire Cum,” “Strangulation Squad,” or “AR-15 Romance” would all make fine additions to my Songs for a Vampire Race Car Driver playlist, or any hard-charging set of songs you may keep for when you need a pick-me-up. At 35 minutes, it’s an easy time investment, so give it a spin.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Nomad Snakepit Productions
Website: linktree.Goatlord_Corp
Releases Worldwide: January 19th, 2025
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