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Goatpenis > Inhumanization > Reviews
Goatpenis - Inhumanization

we're in the thermo-nuclear era... - 90%

T_nihil, August 7th, 2006

"You have a grand stand seat here to one of the most momentous events in the history of science."

After a strange and a-typical opening sample from an old military promotional video dealing with a test explosion of a hydrogen bomb, and two minutes of corny vintage film score, this album EXPLODES... wait.. no it actually fades in with an odd militaristic snare/tom roll repeated over a noodley harmonic minor guitar riff. Strange to say the least. Never in the history of metal has there been an extreme metal album that starts off with like this one, a two minute sample, and a fade in, before launching into the roaring blast beats.
Before getting to a description of the the music though, the audience should understand that this is not presented as a typical raw black/death album. Most of the songs have lengthy intros, some from differing sources, containing the same type of vintage melodramatic film score that has never really been exploited on this type of album. Not what one would expect when popping the first full length Goatpenis album into their player... In the end, what these segues and intros provide is a unique feeling of "vintage black and white nuclear cold war atomic paranoia." It becomes evident from the imagery, lyrics, and visual presentation of the album that this atmosphere was all planned to give the listener something unique and new.
The typesetting on "Inhumanization" displays a futuristic looking font, rather than the typical old English fonts and the Chris Moyen style line based artwork that adorns many black/death albums is absent. This one is presented with a life like cover image of an eerie green polluted looking sky over a desolate lifeless landscape, devoid of any form of "life" whatsoever. Just empty blasted plains of brown and grey soil and rocks. Inside the band photo depicts the members wearing army gear, bullet belts made of rows of shotgun shells, chains, and with green, black, and grey military paint smeared on their faces and bodies. The photos are only vaguely reminiscent of any typical black metal images. Another factor that is distinguishing are the military style crew cuts that some of the members are sporting. It is plain to see that this album contains a new and unique presentation, perhaps one attempting to live up to the notoriously misused genre title "war metal."

"In less than a minute you will see the most powerful explosion witnessed by human eyes."

Now, to answer the most important question at hand, “so how is the actual music?” one must keep this odd presentation in mind, but also listen to the songs and judge them without bias. After the strange minute long fade-in riff, which follows the sampled intro, the first song does finally burst into an intense blast beat, over a vicious tremolo picked riff in a harmonic minor scale, building from the notes in the fade-in riff. Right away it becomes clear that unlike most of the preceding Goatpenis recordings, this album possesses a crystal clear production, and all the instruments are very discernable. The drums are very high in the mix, but even though the guitar has a harsh and heavily distorted sound, it’s tone is set just so, enabling it to cut to for front and pierce the listener. The harmonic scale mentioned previously is dominant throughout most of the riffing on this album, and through at first seems a little odd, ends up making perfect sense, lending a slick and sinuous feel to the music that complements the style perfectly. Many of the riffs on this album seem off kilter at first, for example the main chorus riff in “Machine Voidness” but end up sticking in your brain and coming back to you, their slick strangeness actually makes them acutely memorable.

"The blast will come out of the horizon just about there..."

Once the third song “Roman Revenge” kicks in, the listener should become aware, if they haven’t, that the blast beating and tremolo picked riffs are of a style obviously influenced but the South American legends that preceded them. In short, this album is the perfect continuation of the South American style pioneered by Sarcofago and Genocidio that Euronymous tried to rip off. The difference is here we bear witness to exceptionally raw and vibrant form, unclouded by the egotistical pretentiousness that it takes to write songs with riffs that repeat endlessly for the sake of “atmosphere.” Every song has numerous solid riffs, and though they are frantic, changing quickly and unexpectedly, the clear and solid production makes them easy to get used to.
The vicious blastbeat/tremolo picked sections are interspersed with lethal breakdowns that plod along in sinister fashion and always foreshadow the approaching intensity. There is a very mechanical feel as the drums change tempos suddenly, and the snare is accentuated often to give a militaristic/machinelike feel. The vocals are distorted and appear to have been processed to sound lower, except for the track “Roman Revenge” which founding member/guitarist Sabboath roars along to. They fit the strange mechanical feel of the album, and the grunting sounds and background vocals sound like a great beast growling or roaring. Standout tracks on the album include “Lethal Binary Chemical Munitions” and the amazingly intense “Soldier of Blasphemy” which is as close to epic as metal this frenzied and manic can be.

"... and this is the significance of the moment:"

This is not a grind record. Or a “black noize” record. The abundant stylized riffing serves to easily tear down any misconception about the quality of the songs in “Inhumanization”. This album builds on, and intensifies, the sadistic black metal style that inspired so many bands in the early nineties. Goatpenis carry the torch of South American black metal into the bleak, decimated future, and add their own unique and sinister presentation.