Archgoat - Heavenly Vulva (Christ's Last Rites) (2011)

Formed back in '89, Archgoat are among one of the first black metal bands to emerge out of Finland, alongside Beherit, Impaled Nazarene and Barathrum. Although differently to those bands, this Turku based band only released two demos and an EP before breaking up in late '93. Fast forward eleven years to 2004 when Lord Angelslayer (bass/vocals) and Ritual Butcher (guitar) decided to don the corpsepaint and reek havoc upon the Finnish countryside once again. With new drummer Sinisterror the first full length, 'Whore of Bethlehem' came in '06 as well as, 'The Light-Devouring Darkness' in '09 and most recently this EP, 'Heavenly Vulva (Christ's Last Rites).'

Musically Archgoat hammers out filthy ancient sounding war metal on this release with obvious nods to Beherit, Blasphemy and Sarcofago, but its more than simple mimicry on display here. Most of the songs are characterized by bestial roars and relentless blasting, though many slower highly atmospheric and almost doom-ish trudges can also be found within these six short songs. Keyboards are also sparingly used to add further depth during the slower sections and a lot of these parts truly bring me back to Beherit's, 'Drawing Down the Moon.'

Perhaps what makes the material so intriguing is that it has something of a trance like character to it, which just seems to pull you in and not let you go until the EP expires. The production is also interesting since its not just simply raw, but its raw and thick sounding; very, very heavy with audible bass guitar, pummeling drum work and a chunky guitar tone. Plus some of the riffs are total head banging ones too.

At just a little over sixteen minutes this could either be the perfect introduction to Archgoat or a complete waste of time depending on your fondness for this sort of primal brutality. In any case, I either need the next album soon or need to exhume the bands past a bit, because I freakin' love this sort of age-old black/death metal.