Blastbeats suddenly fill the air, screaming verses of demons and anti-christianity, guitar riffs that can’t seem to get enough of using tremolo. Sounds like black metal doesn’t it? While there is definitely an influence of the old-school black metal bands like Bathory and Venom, Goatwhore also has a taste for hardcore as well. No, not the “new” kind of hardcore that is filled with feigned passion and songs that seem to be entirely composed of breakdowns. Goatwhore draws from bands like D.R.I., Discharge, and Minor Threat, only at a very fast tempo, which makes it sound very similar to thrash metal. However, while drawing from the lyrical themes of black metal, the percussive brutality of death metal, and the guitar arrangements of an old-school thrash metal band… something just doesn’t click when listening to this album.

A Haunting Curse is Goatwhore’s third effort, and has been advertised as the realization of their true sound and direction as a band. With this being my first exposure to the band, I cannot comment on how it compares to their previous work, though I am reluctant to check up on their back catalogue if it is not much different from this. Produced by death metal guru Erik Rutan, he deserves recognition for knowing how to get the right sound out of extreme metal bands, Goatwhore being no exception. The drums are up front in the mix, guitars form a thick wall of crunch, and vocalist Sammy Duet has enough volume to be easily heard, while not overpowering the music. Unfortunately, the songs aren’t as good as the production is. Extreme metal bands that use harsh vocals have to change their patterns and timing tin order to keep from being monotonous, since there is no melody to help out. Duet, who mainly uses a mid-range grunt, while occasionally delving in to black metal screams, sounds like he is using the same vocal pattern for every song. Check out the verses in both My Eyes Are The Spears Of Chaos and In The Narrow Confines Of Defilement. Sound like they could have used a pinch of variety? I think so. The tempo in most songs is defined by steady blastbeats, and the good old-fashioned thrash beat that so many bands before them have used. Think of Lombardo’s work on Slayer’s Reign in Blood.

Ah…and now for the riffs. Well…I mean…speedy chord progressions. It is no secret that a staple of metal is its devotion to the almighty riff. Melodic, atonal, complex, or simple, it is what many bands rely on to keep their listeners interested. Goatwhore uses punkish chord progressions played at a metallic speed, rather than crafting memorable riffs. Alchemy Of The Black Sun Cult manages to pull this off better than the other songs on the album, but this style of guitar playing can just not support an entire album that most metalheads seek to find. “But wait!” all you black metal fans must be saying. “Some of my favorite bands use tremolo chords all the time and I love it!” While this may be true, there are only a few bands who can base their sound around that, and stay entertaining for more than 15 minutes. However, I do realize that a certain atmosphere is required for this formula to work, and this album simply does not have any particularly special atmosphere to speak of.

The album also suffers from another common fault; only the first three or four songs seem interesting at first listen. It has a strong opening track in My Eyes Are The Spears Of Chaos, but quickly gets boring not long after that. This album would have worked better has a four song EP, rather than an 11 track full length. Still, I feel all is not lost for this band. If they can just have some more variety in their vocals and interesting riffs, they could really create an impressive album. That is just not the case this time around.

Note: Below is the video for "Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult". In time the video may become outdated and fail to play.