Hammergoat - Regeneration Through Depopulation...

Hammergoat come forth with the intention to crush the life out of all earholes who hear their music with their full length debut, 'Regeneration Through Depopulation...' The band draws on the raw, fuzzy sound of old Darkthrone guitars and blurred drums and vocals for a gritty, dirty experience. A band like Nadiwrath or Dodsferd can achieve this; Hammergoat sadly muddle things a bit too much. Track after track the distortion gets so overwhelming that it blots out everything else, especially the vocals, which are painful to hear and impossible to understand due to their faded, shrieking quality. If Hammergoat was going for a more ambient style where the vocals were more and instrument than a messenger of lyrics, then this would be perfect. But, instead, it kills everything, such as with the first couple tracks where the drums can only be heard if it does on non stop overdrive hammering, and then it just sounds monotonously boring.

Some tracks are more redeemable than others. "Hammergoat" involves more groove and has an excellent solo that is actually more in the vein of old school death metal, and a first for showing anything in the way of 'complex' skill for the band. "The Aftermath Of War" goes for a more ambient opening before launching into the darker, black metal stuff, but overall the feeling is much more occult, colder, and effective for the band compared to their lo fi overly aggressive approach. Here, the twisted vocals actually sound pretty decent when put in context. Finally there's a Sarcofago cover that is just as raw as the earlier tracks, but for some reason sounds a bit louder and the intruments/ vocals more equal in sound so nothing is too overshadowed. Plus there is a pretty impressive solo, just like "Hammergoat." If only the group had performed all their tracks on this sort of quality level...

There is skill involved with Hammergoat's debut, no doubt, but nothing amazing, and remotely mediocre. Their song structure is certainly blackened and raw enough, but unforunately very difficult to hear, let alone comprehend, for most of the album. There's still lots of work to be done on the production side, but no doubt can be improved over time. This material here would work great for a live album, but not for a full length where better quality is expected overall.

  1. I Am Sociopath
  2. Ode To Suicide
  3. Hammergoat
  4. Chaos
  5. Misanthropy: The Future
  6. The Aftermath of War
  7. The Black Vomit (Sarcofago cover)

Hammer Of Damnation
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Mar 2, 2011

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