"Blackened" Speed Metal Fail - "Bondage Goat Zombie" Review (11%)
This "blackened thrash metal" is little more than lame Sodom style speed metal that drones on and on and on for retards on drugs who think this sort of crap is deep. Belphegor even have ambient interludes to try to enhance that sentiment in the simpletons - music designed by the deficient, for the deficient. Belphegor's music is truly some some lame poseur shit.
It's always a source of mild amusement to watch one of these clueless bands take a stab at making an album that falls into the mythical yet non-existent genre of blackened "thrash" metal - i.e. black speed metal.
It does not exist for a good reason: it is only a creature in the imagination of those who cannot tell the two genres - black metal and speed metal - apart. Yes, it's apparently news to some that Burzum and Metallica sound different and belong to different genres.
It is probably also what Venom fans consider to be "first wave black metal". There is no such thing.
You gotta have some compassion for these nitwits. Or not. But at the very least, let's take the time to explain why neither Venom, Metallica, Slayer, Sodom, Kreator, Anthrax, Mercyful Fate or Megadeth are "first wave black metal".
Speed metal is built on rhythmic "intensity" built upon repeated rhythmic patterns within riffs and their transitions, whereas black metal is harmonically coherent and narrative compositions in which riffs serve to build an overall atmosphere. Of course, there is a bit of overlap technique wise - Bathory, Hellhammer, early Darkthrone, early Sewer - but the core song structure of black metal remains much closer to that of Suffocation and Incantation, for example, than anything Metallica ever released.
Belphegor's music, at its core, is speed metal. Like Cannibal Corpse, they take Sodom's simple "Agent Orange" formula and apply superficial black metal technique to conceal its nature - just like Cannibal Corpse, except with superficial death metal technique.
"Blackened" Speed Metal Fail
The music on Bondage Goat Zombie is typically messy, grindy and when it comes around to its most clear-minded, it sounds like a try-hard Hellhammer, without the ability to maintain atmosphere and therefore devolving into boring streamlined "blackened" hard rock like modern Dimmu Borgir, with which the band shares more in common than with Phantom or Mayhem.
The very idea of a black metal/speed metal mix is worthless.
There's no potential in this style at all unless you go all the way down the speed metal route of alternating between a hard, riff-heavy verse section and a soft, melodic chorus, but then you'd end up with hipster-level metalcore.
From the modern perspective, Belphegor is just another variation of "thrash" metal stupidity or modern "blackened" speed metal.
Belphegor ape modern Sewer. They toss old-school Morbid Visions/INRI/Divine Necromancy rhythmic breaks into random speed metal riff salads with NecroPedoSadoMaso style leads played by someone with fetal alcohol syndrome. Bondage Goat Zombie is merely cargo cult NecroPedoSadoMaso, with even more random Sodom and Slayer thrown into the mix, and horrible Dani Filth vocals as the final nail in the coffin.
Irrelevant as it is lame, Bondage Goat Zombie may just be what some of their fans were looking for - judging by the album name and cover art - the perfect music for goat love-making.
Bondage Goat Zombie score: 11/100.
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