Album Review: "The Deathmass Cloak" by Ghoulgotha

The Deathmass Cloak

I started this silly blog because I was kind of old and I wanted to show the people of my generation that there is still quality new music being made.

The day in late 2011 when I noticed that all of the CDs in my car were from 2011 was kind of an eye opener.

As for what I'm reviewing today, it doesn't get any newer than this. Today we're listening to the debut record of San Diego's Ghoulgotha. These are the best kinds of records. Will they be like Slayer and continue down the same kind of path?

Completely change like Metallica or The Black Keys? There are many different things that can happen. It's exciting.

Ghoulgotha's final line up was created in the summer of 2012 and they immediately put some music to tape with the two song demo, No Peace To Rest In. Now we have the full slice.

(Stolen From Their Facebook Page)

In many ways, this album is old school death metal.

The guitars are drenched in blistering, high gain distortion.

The drumming is ponderous.

The vocals though, now we've reached a fork in the road. They are not overpowering and gigantic.

They are resonant and somewhat peaceful.

There is far more here than the standard blast beat riffing of many in the genre. Fluid changes yield breakdowns and solos created in the fevered dreams of madmen. After these breaks, the band returns to a single, crushing unit.

The distortion caught my ear. It's nothing out of the ordinary in and of itself, but how it's used. It's the fog on the moors.

It obscures the riffing until the right time when it opens up and all four members of the band playing in perfect unison.

The hive mind on display is stunning to the point of ridiculousness. We will watch their career with great interest.

Release: 1/13/15
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Dark Descent Records
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