Do you like Carcass? Of course you do. If not you’re looking at the wrong website surely… now move along.
Now we’ve sorted that out and got rid of them, let me tell you about Golem. If you’re not aware, Golem is a classy German death metal band with more than a whiff (stench) of Necroticism era Carcass about them. In fact they positively reek of it.
Golem formed in 1989 and this double re-issue comprises their first two albums, 1996’s ‘Eternity The Weeping Horizons’ & 1998’s ‘The 2nd Moon’ in a tasty little double CD / LP package with all new artwork from Mark Cooper.
Golem never really got much recognition back in the 90’s and haven’t released any new material since their third album, 2004’s ‘Dreamweaver’. Which is a shame because they are a really good band and deserve another crack of the whip. So it’s a good thing that the ever-reliable FDA Rekotz has picked them up and is punting out this re-issue.
Of the two ‘The 2nd Moon’ is a more polished album, self-produced (as was the first) with engineering by guitarist / vocalist Andreas Hilbert as opposed to Dan Swano who engineered ‘Eternity..’. The band also expanded from a three piece to a quartet for their second record with 2nd guitarist Carsten Mai coming into the fold and Rainer Humeniuk replacing Rico Spiller on bass.
While Golem offers absolutely nothing new or ground-breaking for death metal fans, the quality of musicianship on both albums is first class. I could waffle on about how much the band sound like Carcass (Andreas Hilbert even has a Jeff Walker-esque growl) but there’s no point. To be perfectly honest though, the similarity to Carcass isn’t important here. This double re-issue contains some quality, brutal yet melodic death metal. The songs are great, well written and memorable. All the riffs & solos are bang on and it’s a great listen, well worth shelling out for. (The limited to 100 double green vinyl looks especially tasty).
Fingers crossed this ignites some renewed interest in the band and hopefully spurs the Berliners on to produce a new record.
(7.5/10 Mark Eve)
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