Forming in 2011, Polish three piece The Dead Goats is made up of members of blackened/deathly crew Abused Majesty, as well as Neuropathia (the prolific purveyors of quality death grind). This is only the second release from this relatively new band (their debut full length came in the form of 2012’s ‘Path of the Goat’) and being a 12 inch EP release, it’s surprisingly satisfying for a format which is notorious for its brevity – a short, sharp shock of blasting death that hits the spot like nailed-bat to zombie-eye.
‘Children of the Fungus’ starts of as it means to go on, with a blasting guitar tone that could topple buildings, bass heavy and distorting to the point of bending space and time. Clearly these guys had some early Swedish death to get out of their systems, as this EPs overall sound pours with just about any one of the many luminaries from the early 90s Swedeath scene you’d care to mention, but it isn’t just that straight forward. Clearly the grind influence from some of the members’ day jobs has crept into the riffage too, as there is a strong grind influence to the instant and violent song writing. You only have to look as far as the cover of Napalm Death’s ‘Instinct of Survival’ as the discs final farewell to point you in the direction of their other inspirations, but it’s just as obvious in the other five tracks of this 21 minute beauty too to be fair. It’s a white knuckle ride throughout, being battered from pillar to post with septic tones, grinding beats, broken teeth, smashed bottles and stale beer breath. Whereas musically everything is mainly kept at a high tempo, there are a few nice chugging sections to allow the blasting to have more of an effect. Dynamics in Swedish death/grind?! Whatever next!
I’m wondering if these guys love goats more or less than Impaled Nazarene too, as they too seem to have to crowbar a mention in of their fave animal whenever possible – I guess it is in the name so what did I expect, eh? Crazy goat loving Poles. If you’re not a fan of goats, don’t worry – you’ll still love this. Make no mistake, this will rattle your cage and have you frothing at the face. Good shit.
(8/10 Lars Christiansen)
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