Sodomythical Frostgoats - Blackened Thrash and More Forest Battles

 Blackened fucking thrash. Like a dank wind from an open tomb its stench engulfs everything. From Burma to Brazil from Thailand to Iceland the mighty spiked gauntlet reings heavy over all metal fans. Who doesn't love Bathory or Venom. Show me the fun-hating butthole who frowns upon Sodom and I'll show you someone who's life means less than dust to any truVe metal fan. With this in mind Bloodmace and I set out on a dark journey into the heart of deepest Asia (and Australia) to uncover the best in christsodomizing unholy frostbearers who torment the ears with their angelripping hatemyths! Ahoy captain! Full speed ahead!

Impiety's Asateerul Awaleen is a hell of an album. From the overlong, Bathory-style intro to the raw thrashing of the closing tune, Blasphemyth... The Seventh Goatspawn, this is what I like to hear. The production is raw as shit, the lyrics are completely unintelligible and there's not a guitar solo to be heard, in other words, perfect. The grim atmosphere hangs heavy, like mountain fog as Shyaithan and the original lineup of this black thrash juggernaut blast through eight battle songs informed by the great German and Brazilian thrash bands of yore. Much like those globe trotting tides of evil, the music of these Asian hate mongers finds a reflection in the frosty black metal of northern Europe. 

Though ostensibly influenced by the great Teutonic thrash of decades gone, you can hear more than a little Darkthrone in the track Divine Hutamahan Frostfuck, and certainly those cheesy keyboards sound more Emperor than Sodom. These are minor quibbles though, for this is an album that I can listen to over and over again. The drums are worth a mention in this department, though the mix makes itself known a bit too much the infernal clanging of drummer, Iblyss' kit catches the ear and sets this album apart from other contenders. This is the first full length by the long-lived Impiety, who went on to release seven more albums and are still active today. Having never heard most of their later catalog, it's hard to say how this fits in the cannon, but I find it to be an engaging slab of ultra-misanthropic metal to soothe the nerves of the most harried wage slave. Winner of the night!

Frostor had been leaping branch to branch, unleashing deadly volleys of gunfire from above the heads of the sauron warriors. He laughs as he spies the harried troops of the royal Wyverns sending their human servants out with a flamethrower to burn out the unseen assassin. The nimble bounty hunter climbs up and around the trunk of the massive tree as the fire singes the branches below. As he jumps to the next limb something catches his eye. A large papery structure hangs from the branch ahead with three or four Lornflies hanging from the bottom, their stingers dripping with deadly venom. A smile grows over Frostor's face as he draws the scope to his eye and releases a single shot that sends the nest careening down to the ground, sending the angry insects swarming through the battlefield. "Nice shootin' there stranger." Frostor's eyes dart up to see Lady Deathcrush perched across from him, "look over there, the Wyvern have arrived from Samur." Indeed, as Frostor peered around to the place where the sauron army was attempting to gather, he beheld the five elder Wyvern circling in the air above. Huge, majestic creatures they were. Their bodies were huge dark forms, lit only by the glow of fires from the battle below and they swooped in and out of the forest canopy. Frostor looked at Deathcrush above and called out, "We better get closer to the ground, one of these clowns is gonna rip us right out of the tree. They're lookin' for us sister!" There was a sound of breaking wood and they both knew what was about to happen. Neither of the metal warriors could see much of the beast, but both felt its scaly flesh as they rushed toward the ground.

Arriving a little later to the scene than Impiety, Zygoatsis does their best to kick it up a notch and what you end up with is their 2011 offering, S.K.U.D. This is a much more bombastic affair with a real death metal edge. This album is more frenetic than ...Awaleen. Where Impiety stick to a moodier feeling and mid tempo pacing until the last half, Zygoatsis goes straight for the throat in the opening track. Evoke the Goatphomet, blasting out of the intro like a ghostly steed to singe the air with it's fiery breath. Drummer Sunyaluxx (formerly of the black metal band Surrender of Divinity, who released splits with Sabbat, Impiety and Bestial Warlust) keeps the sixteenth notes rolling along as guitarists Patiwat and Avaejee fill the soundscape with menacing thunder. Shyaithan of Impiety even turns up to belt out Zygoatical Epidemic Assassination and Black Forced Khaostorms. Overall this is a ultra sick fuckin' album that outdoes the night's champion on speed and brutality, but fell victim to my will.

In the treetop chamber, Chanthoth was madly chanting in the many languages of the sacred texts. A thousand voices issued from this mystic's throat as before him the keys appeared. Bloodmace tried to return to his body from the skin of the forest, but the voice of Chanthoth warned him, "Come gather the keys, you must deliver them. Hurry! Your energy for this spell will not last forever" Bloodmace rushed up through the roots and fibers, up into the floor of the bearded mystic's quarters where the keys were emerging. The mighty barbarian knew what he had to do. Because he had merged with the plant world, he could travel anywhere. His mind was one with the very life force of this planet and he could move at will to any place as he desired. Chanthoth touched the floor and directed Bloodmace 

through the soil and sand, under vast mountains and below the time desert. To seven underground lakes he journeyed, reaching out through sprout and fungi to drop the keys into their places. It was getting harder and harder for him to move. With a tremendous effort, he located his body and lurched into it, falling to the floor with a thud. All hell was breaking loose. Fire was consuming the room in several places, Chanthoth was still chanting, his voice modulated to a terrifying bestial wail. It seemed as though the very air was breaking apart. Outside, the huge body of a Wyvern plummeted to the ground, rocking the very foundation of the tree and sending both men crashing against the wall. It was silent a moment and Bloodmace opened his mout to speak but the terrible sound of a second lizard crashiung through the tree stopped him short. In the moment before the aincent tree began its precipitous decent to the forest floor, he looked across at Chanthoth. It was only a split second, but that moment chilled the hardened warrior to his bones. The face across him was no longer the arboreal shaman he expected. It was Headron, his mouth contorted with spectral rage. They slammed to the ground, bark and branch exploding chaotically around them.

BestialWarlust, who came up at roughly the same time as Impiety contributed the final chapter in our survey of unholy blasphemies from the southern hemisphere. Blood and Valor is the second, and final full length from this excellent underground war metal outfit and has the best riffs of the night hands down. Zygoatsis had the speed and brutality, Impiety dominated, but this band has riffs that are more than just smears of speed or straight up Emperor worship. This album holds up today because the riffs are kick ass. Falling somewhere between Burzum and Obituary, the guitars beat out tasty primitive licks punctuated by pinch harmonic squeals that would make James Murphy smile. I won't lie and say it was hard to decide who was going to take the crown tonight, but to me, this was one of the best metal nights ever.

Even in a single battle there are a thousand stories. Like a deadly prism, its facets reflect every aspect of  a warrior's soul. When steel meets steel and blood stains the ground, the inner life is laid bare. The Wyverns have fallen victim to Chanthoth's spell and the political landscape of Centon has been forever changed. Bloodmace and Demon Scourge are caught in the middle of the tide of history as it rushes into the icy ocean of madness. Behold fair readers! Behold the path of elders, so faint. Hear their voices in the air like dead leaves! Night is almost over, and the dawn breaks over yonder hills...

Until next week, Goatvomiting blasphmongers, 



Horns