Akercocke - Goat of Mendes

This, along with the other Akercocke records, is something I have always wished to be released on vinyl. It's fuckin' death metal! Death metal belongs on vinyl! Ya hear me Earache / Peaceville? Re-press this shit on wax or I might blow a gasket. Ha. Anyway, The Goat of Mendes is probably Akercocke's most black metal of records, although they somehow retain that vibe on all records except Antichrist, which abolishes all blackened vibes, in my eyes.

The production here isn't exactly shit hot, but it is far cry from the previous effort Rape of the Bastard Nazarene. Everything seems a bit necro at first but when your ears adjust you should find that everything falls together nicely; the guitars are razor sharp and crazy distorted, the bass clearly audible on any decent sound system and the drums are fat as fuck. Dat snare, Dave, dat snare! It's like a cross between a late 80s pop ballad and an entry level electronic drum kit. It is awful. I'm fucking loving it!

For me I still find that Akercocke are criminally under-rated. Dave Gray is a fecking shit hot drummer and Mendonca's vocal range is nothing short of the perfect front man, shitting over lesser bands who would have to employ several vocalists to cover the spectrum that he does. The time signatures and song structures are off the fuckin' scale crazy. I've always thought of Opeth as a nowhere-near-as-heavy, boring-as-fuck version of Akercocke. Anyone see where I'm coming from here?

Anyways this digipak has been out for nigh on five tenyear and is out on Peaceville records, so it should be relatively easy to find. The artwork throughout is creepy as shit, sticking to an ultra-realistic, almost Blair Witch type look at satanic ritual. For extra lulz the video for "Infernal Rites" is included on the disc. Raise your claw in awe!