The Goat of the Black Possession

Blind purchases can really screw you over. Over the years I have managed to pick up quite a few gems but also, as basic laws of probabilities dictate, ended up with more than my fair share of duds. Unfortunately, this album falls into the latter category.

After finding out the band was from Colombia, I hastily popped the album into my stereo system expecting something along the lines of Inquisition or Infernal, which was not what I heard.

If one is familiar with the music of Dark Funeral and newer Marduk, you pretty much have an idea what this album sounds like. Norsecore.

The album opens with a cheesy organ track accompanied by a man reading the invocation to Satan and then reciting the Infernal Names. After three minutes, the blasturbation commences.

Unlike Dark Funeral and Marduk, Utuk-Xul does not possess the decency to limit their "songs" to 2-4 minutes in length. The first two songs (2nd and 3rd tracks) are both longer than 10 minutes and consist of unrelenting, high speed blasting, poorly defined and constructed riffs and grating vocals devoid of any emotion. This description could be given to any of the three tracks which follow; except for the fifth track. This one is an "instrumental" (i.e. blasting without vocals) and is by far the best track on the album, thanks mainly to its short length.

As expected, the production of the album is biased towards the drumming. However, unlike other Norsecore albums, the guitars are a bit higher in the mix and somewhat audible. The vocals suffer the most from the production and are pushed the furthest back in the mix but given the vocalist's thoroughly unoriginal style, this is definitely a blessing.

Not satisfied with the monotony of the music, Utuk-Xul writes repetitive lyrics to escort their compositions. From the track "Whispers of Typhared" -

"Typhared power of the wind
Chockman spirit of the night
The ancient powers of the winds
Powers of the wind in the night

The ancient power of the called of the wind
Spectral vision of the night
Typhared inner power
Power of the wind"

One must be grateful that rather than following Dark Funeral's lead and yelling "Satan" every other second, Utuk-Xul throws in a little "variation" and instead rather "cleverly" hails Lucifer and Leviathan. Being evil for the sake of it is getting increasingly tired.

You are not losing out if you fail to listen to this album. Everything on it has been done before, and even then it was far from good. Avoid TGotBP.

Although I prefer more mid-paced Black Metal, this album was a nice change of pace (no pun intended), since not many bands are really doing the constant blasting anymore. I would say that these guys are like the Columbian answer to older “Panzer Division” era Marduk, but much, much heavier.

Utuk Xul plays unrelenting blasting Black Metal with a vengeance. Pure Satanic Fury. The production on “The Goat of the Black Possession” is above average for most underground Black Metal, but still maintains a grim feeling. The riffing is good, though not very inventive at times, however the sheer heaviness of all the elements (vocals, guitars, drums, bass) combined, come together well. The vocals are excellent, very high and shrieking, somewhat comparable to the vocals on the Behexen album: Rituale Satanum. The drums are furious and simply unstoppable, many cool drum fills and a lot of cymbal crashing. The first two songs, each being over ten minutes in length, are really quite impressive, as they are blasting almost non-stop. The 5th track “Allax Xul” is an instrumental, and the only track where they slow it down a bit, too bad there wasn’t vocals for that one. So if you enjoy “Panzer Division Marduk” style, Blasting Black Metal then this album is definitely for you.