Artist: Goatcorpse / Gotthammer
Country: USA / Canada
Label: WolfKult Religion
Format: Split 7″ EP
Year: 2025
By no means do I have the illusion that in my role of a reviewer I have any other purpose than to just inform the reader on what to expect in terms of musical content. But evidently, with a cover such as the split between Goatcorpse and Gotthammer, I feel like I almost must apologize for wasting your time. As if it wasn’t clear by the artwork of this Split, originally released in 2024 by Anti-Human Productions, that Beherit, Blasphemy, Sadomator, Archgoat and Proclamation worship is what you’ll find then you put this on the player. But still, here it goes.
For a few seconds Goatcorpse did have me tricked with ‘Luciferian Carpet Bombing’, as the opening riff is 100% Morbid Angel Worship. But after that initial riff, the band quickly switches to a raw and bestial Black / Death Metal amalgam, with reverbed hoarse vocals, a mechanic drum sound and rickety and charming savagery. But it’s not all pure high speed violence what the US act serves, showed by a subtle, almost Doomy break. Nothing too fancy and certainly nothing refined, the three tracks (of which one is mostly Noisy samples) are straightforward and repetitive in nature, devoid of any complexity and purely aimed at delivering barbaric War Metal.
With Goatcorpse aiming pure pure violence, it’s up to Gotthammer to deliver the subtle and sophisticated balads. Mission failed, since the Canadian band is possibly even more violent thann their American counterparts. With a less raw and more Grinding approach, the recordings have a delightful drum sound, thick distorted guitars and bellowed vocals. As a whole, Gotthammer is quite a bit more dynamic than Goatcorpse, going from violent outbursts to more grooving heaviness with zero intention to be smooth or polished.
Lovers of nuclear goats, bestial war and total lack of compromise and subtlety, here’s more to feast on. And in particular the collectors of Gotthammer vinyl will be pleased to see these tracks on red and black wax, as now the entire body of work of the band is released on the format. Act while they still last!
