Artist: Milking The Goat Machine
Title: Back From The Goats
Type: Album
Label: Ansalt Records

Goatgrind… yep, you read that correctly. Goat-Grind, Grindcore with an unnatural infatuation with Capra aegagrus hircus. But don’t run away screaming “Not another inane gimmick band!” MTGM are an accomplished group of Grindcore musicians as well as mad goat mask wearing Germans (sorry GoatEborgians). With definite nods to Napalm Death, Carcass, Nasum, Nailbomb, and Sacred Reich (the latter two both have songs covered by the band) the band show themselves to be first and foremost, real musicians… as well as loonies. p> So far the band have done a good job dividing the extreme metal audience down the middle with some writing them off entirely as “beige-bland Deathcore” as one review quipped, and others being intrigued by their eccentric take on modern Grind. I’ll have to admit to being intrigued - the band do a hell of a lot right on this album, and in fairness if they had been instead obsessed with gore or the occult, would so many people be so quick to dismiss them?p> Well, onto the album. From the opening sample ripped from the film Network (1976), ‘March into the Shed’ takes on political connotations that is a subtle counterpoint to the bands madness - and with a decent enough song behind it, it has plenty of appeal. ‘A Tale of Slaughtering’ again could be a title and track from a multitude of other Grindcore which is both it’s strongpoint and its downfall - because it fits well enough into that grind sound it feels a bit like it has come out of a cookie cutter. ‘Surf Goaturagua’ is a cover of Sacred Reich’s ‘Surf Nicuagura’ and it is a great catchy, tongue-in-cheek take on the song that really sold this band to me. ‘Sour Milk Boogie’ is the first out and out crazy title on the album so far, but it is a nice enough piece of groove laden Death Metal to get away with it. ‘Goats Got No Clits’ is the worst title you’ll get on the album and probably the shakiest track thus far too with its slow stop and start approach it never gets out of third gear. ‘Rise of the Wise Goat’ is another track that has that cookie cutter feel, but it tries to be funny as well and it kind of falls short because of it despite the nice guitar solo. ‘Bingo Bong’ is a short mad track that seems pretty superfluous to the album. ‘Eaten Blessed Scum’ on the other hand is a very nice groove laded slice of Death Metal that gets the toes tapping and the head bobbing before kicking it up a notch in classic grind style. ‘Goatthrower’ is old school Death Metal in feel, if very subdued for the most part - it claws some intensity back at points but feels very sluggish for the most part. ‘Feed the Goat’ veers back into grind territory, this time getting the stop and start trick right without stalling the rest of the track. Track 11 is a cover of Nail bomb’s ‘Wasting Away’, and it is done pretty well, none of the tongue-in-cheek charm of ‘Surf Goaturagua’ it’s a fairly straight cover of a rather brutal track. ‘The Last Unigoat’ is a sludgier track than the band produces for most of the album and as such its quite hit and miss, with their style definitely suiting a more up tempo attack. The penultimate track ‘Born, Lost and Captured’ is more of the stop and start method, but like on ‘Feed the Goat’ they get it right - throw in some fancy guitar work in as well and you get a very good track out of it. The album’s final track (and the title track) ‘Back From The Goats’ is a good slice of manic Death Grind that does well to showcase what it is that the band can actually do with their agenda. p> Goats aside, Back From The Goats is a decent enough debut album to come out of a scene with so many bands that sound like they’ve been cloned. Some will dismiss them as purely a gimmick band - a Green Jello of Grind. But I think if you give it a chance you’ll find something to like, even if its just the mad video for ‘Surf Goaturagua’.p> http://www.myspace.com/milkingthegoatmachine

Sean M. Palfrey

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