Archgoat/Surrender of Divinity Split - Angelslaying Christbeheading Black Fucking Metal



When you put a title like that on your album, you're really putting it out there.  You better deliver.  And I can tell you, without a doubt, this entire release delivers in every way you can think of.  We have Hell's Headbangers to thank for this beast, and they did a fantastic job.  The black and white marble LP, although I think this color is way sold out now.  The double gatefold is really well printed, nice and heavy, and has some of the most evil and blasphemous artwork I've ever seen on a release.  And the music?  Every bit as brutal and foul and blasphemous as you would expect from an album with this title.  It's a live album, recorded in Thailand.  It's just fantastic.

The last time we visited Archgoat, they had released a sweet little album called “Heavenly Vulva”.  I reviewed it and one of my fellow Ripple writers referred to my review as the “Best. Review. Ever”.  (You can check it out here: http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2012/03/archgoat-heavenly-vulva-christs-last.html).  Not that I'm trying to toot my own horn.  It wasn't my writing that made him respond that way.  More the subject matter.  Anyway, this live blast has 9 tracks of unadulterated Satanic hedonism.  If you are not familiar with Archgoat, they really don't pull any punches.  There is no sacrilege they won't make.  They are easily the most brutal and hardcore black metal band I know of from Finland.  Highlight tracks are “Apotheosis of Lucifer”, “Hammer of Satan”, with a drum riff that sounds exactly like the title of the track, and “Goat and the Moon”, easily my favorite on this release with one of the most evil sounding riffs that I have ever heard.  I dig Archgoat a lot and for me this release is worth the price just for their contribution.

Surrender of Divinity hail from Thailand, so this must have been a hometown gig for them.  Whereas Archgoat put a lot of speed in their black metal, these guys offer more of the chaotic variety of black metal.  All 3 band members are just ripping away all at the same time to create a truly hellish cacophony.  There seem to be some pretty cool riffs in these 3 tracks but this side of the split suffers a little bit from a bad mix.  The drums pretty much take over whenever Mr. Drummer is doing fills and rolls and double bass insanity, which is pretty much all the time.  The drums are way too high in the mix so you just hear the guitar and bass in small windows when the drums mellow out for 5 seconds.  I was not familiar with this band prior to listening to this split but they have some good stuff going on and I'd like to hear some studio recordings with everything in the proper spot in the mix.  My favorite from them is the wonderfully named “Manifest Blasphemy”.

Rarely do I find a release that has the whole package like this one.  When you combine great design, beautiful vinyl, and Angelslaying Christbeheading Black Fucking Metal all in one, you really can't go wrong.  Check this one out while you can, I don't imagine there are many copies left.

- ODIN



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