Welcome to the inaugural edition of Procreating the Wicked; the year’s best in slime, grime and filth. Here is where the year’s filthiest and foulest examples of old goat metal can be found. The best of the best in those amalgamous forms of metal including bits of black, death, thrash, heavy, speed and whatever other type of metal that comes to mind, as long as it’s filtered through ample layers of Hellhammer, Venom, Motörhead and Sarcófago. Without further ado, here’s the years best in sleazy blackened metal.
10. Children of Technology – Future Decay
Combining the bare bones nature of Motörhead with a brazen punk edge, Children of Technology’s sophomore full length is riddled post apocalyptic themes and aims to claim that ground between hardcore punk and heavy metal. Crusty d-beat aficionados and fans of rangy thrash will find plenty to take to their next circle pit. Italian street metal for the end of days.
Finland’s Wömit Angel bring their second full length album, Holy Goatse, which is about as blasphemous as they come. Combing blackened thrash and punk in a Mötorhead by way of Hellhammer kind of way, Holy Goatse boasts catchy choruses among raw as hell blasting. Fans of Abigail and Sabbat should take note.
8. Sturmtiger – World at War 1914-1918
World at War 1914-1918 will peel the skin of your face. It’s an extremely heavy and violet approach to what’s been lovingly referred to as war metal, but Sturmtiger actually makes their album feel like raging war. Vitriolic and thick enough to take down walls, this is one of the heaviest hitting albums on this list.
7. Bunker 66 – Screaming Rock Believers
Screaming Rock Believers is a chunk of blackened thrash the way it should be done. Bunker 66 starts out their 2014 with a cover Celtic Frost’s “Seduce Me Tonight”. Yes, from Celtic Frost’s controversial Cold Lake, but Bunker 66 makes it their own. Precarious speed metal solos and boozed up guitar riffing from the Fast Eddie Clark school meet blackened thrashing headfirst, creating an album of throwback metal that mixes the necrotizing flesh of the first wave with the reckless abandon of early thrash.
Long waving the flag of old goat metal, Gravewürm is one of the longest standing purveyors of old school, no frills primal metal. Although the band’s formula hasn’t changed, their tenth studio albun, Abyss Sorcery, just might be their strongest to date. Taking the same touches of black metal, doom and death metal and adding a dose of grooving thrash to the mix, Gravewürm have slightly revamped their sound and brought one hell of a writhing, blackened chunk of metal with them.
5. Impaled Nazarene – Vigorous and Liberating Death
Returning with their twelfth full length album, Impaled Nazarene make the list simply by doing what they’ve always done. Presenting a fiery concoction of punk-infused black metal, Vigorous and Liberating Death is a worthy addition to the band’s catalog and one that any fan of their previous work should delve into. Blistering, blasting, no holds barred.
Sweden’s Vornth unleashed their eponymous debut album in August, showing they know their shit from the get go. Vorth hearkens back to when Kreator and Destruction were ruling the underground; thrashing with an oh so blackened edge. What pushes Vornth ahead of many contemporaries is that, while the music drips with the sweat of the ’80s, it doesn’t sound old or dated. One of Sweden’s most promising young acts to watch out for.
3. Warfist – The Devil Lives in Grünberg
After a decade of releasing demos and splits, Warfist strikes from Polish soil with their debut album, The Devil Lives in Grünberg. Taking equal parts Venom, Hellhammer, Sodom and Destruction, Warfist runs with it and unleash a rampant blackened thrashing opus with just enough groove and variation to keep the entire play through intense and interesting.
2. Nunslaughter – Angelic Dread
The king’s of grimy and sleazy death metal return with their fourth full length album since their 1987 formation, Angelic Dread. Cleveland’s Nunslaughter rifles through fifteen new tracks and sixteen reworked classics, bringing over an hour of the dirtiest and slimiest death metal around. Don of the Dead, Jim Sadist and Zack Massacre have crafted the definitive death album for the ages.
1. Midnight – No Mercy for Mayhem
It would take a monstrous album to top Nunslaughter’s latest, so it should come as no surprise that the sleaziest and slimiest album of the year would also come from Cleveland, which, lately, has been a hotbed of the grimiest bands around. Midnight’s second full length album, No Mercy for Mayhem, is a rollicking good time that is more fun than a blackened speed metal album has a right to be. Old school vibes, rangy riffs and a nasty attitude make this a must have for any fan of sleazy blackened metal. The most deserving band of the “black ‘n’ roll” title.
For further listening, Nekrofilth, Whipstriker, Studfaust, Born for Burning and Vermis Mortem all released killer EP’s this year. Thus concludes the inaugural Procreating the Wicked article, documenting the best metal albums that dwell in grime and slime. It should be known, that this series was not only named after the classic Celtic Frost song, but also Tom G. Warrior’s epic search for love and procreation. Special thanks to Funeral Grave for coining the term “old goat metal” (at least he’s the first I heard use it), as I have officially stolen it from you.
“OOHG!”
