Belphegor - _Goatreich - Fleshcult_
(Napalm Records, 2005)
by: T. DePalma (6 out of 10)
It's unusual for a band to consistently improve over time the way Belphegor has. It's even more unusual that a band like Belphegor would improve as such. With that in mind, I have to say I was not so surprised to find they have waned slightly in 2005. My opinion of this album has decreased with time and this is mostly due to these songs leaving nothing to return to.

The style of _Goatreich - Fleshcult_ remains near to their previous work, _Lucifer Incestus_, only simplified: black / death metal concentrating on rushed dynamics and reductive melodies that seem too catchy and one dimensional -- like the album's third track, "Fornicationium et Immundus Diabolus", which begs for a more thoughtful conclusion after three minutes of arrant verse-chorus-verse, exiting in drawn out feedback; or "Sepulture of Hypocrisy", which diverts from pure speed into a groovy, melodic dirge that sounds like late European gothic metal. The problem is not that the album necessarily lacks variety, but that it tends to remains shallow regardless of its direction. In some ways it resembles Slayer's _Seasons in the Abyss_. Likewise there are a few songs here that do leave the shore ("Swarm of Rats", "Kings Shall Be King" and the closing orison "Festum Asinorum").

Overall this album feels like a diluted fix that vanishes like a dream.

Contact: http://www.belphegor.at

(article published 7/4/2005)


ALBUMS
10/16/2014 A El Naby 7 Belphegor - Conjuring the Dead
3/6/2011 A El Naby 8 Belphegor - Blood Magick Necromance
4/27/2008 J Smit 5 Belphegor - Bondage Goat Zombie
12/26/2006 J Smit 8.5 Belphegor - Pestapokalypse VI
12/26/2003 M Noll 8 Belphegor - Lucifer Incestus
7/3/2002 M Noll 8.5 Belphegor - Necrodaemon Terrorsathan
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