Artist: Goatwhore

Venue:  The Corporation, Sheffield

Date:  1 December 2009 

This is the third night into a five-night UK tour for the ‘Unholy Trinity’ of Skeletonwitch, Toxic Holocaust and Goatwhore and, as the slots rotate every night, tonight is the turn of Goatwhore to headline.  Probably the least well exposed in the UK of all the three bands, there is a very slight thinning of the already small crowd (the gig took place in the Corporation’s second room which is somewhat box-like) for Goatwhore’s performance but the band care not and proceed to pulverise those who are there with some seriously heavy black/death metal. 

With album titles like Carving Out the Eyes of God and t-shirts emblazoned with inverted crucifixes and slogans such as ‘Who Needs a God When You’ve Got Satan’, you pretty much know what you’re going to get when see a Goatwhore show. Legendary comedian Bill Hicks once remarked that it didn’t matter what sort of music a band played as long as they “played from their fucking hearts” and whether you like them or not, there’s no denying that Goatwhore do just that. 

There’s a genuine belief in the band’s anti-religious message and ironically, vocalist L. Ben Falgoust II spews his venom forth from the stage with such passion that he is almost preacher-like to watch. The rest of the band are tight and play very well, most notably guitarist Sammy Duet who powered through feeling ill tonight and despite that, did a great job. By the end of the show, the Louisiana natives leave the crowd baying for more and extremely satisfied though I’m sure many will be feeling the whiplash effects of Goatwhore monstrously head-banging riffs tomorrow.

Review by: Adam G.

 

 

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