_Blood for the Master_ lasts for thirty-four minutes and it is heavily loaded with chugging riffs and pounding drums. This is a band that doesn't need lengthy tracks or scattered interludes to make its point. The vocals are harsh, yet the lyrics are somewhat identifiable. The drumming is fast paced and has a hint of Lombardo to it. The riffs sway effortlessly from classical thrash to mid-era black metal to create a multifaceted pummeling. For an immediate impression of this adroit command of genres, jump to "Beyond the Spell of Discontent", which blasts off with a black metal riff accompanied by some mid-tempo blasting that will instantly get your head banging. The vocals shift from aggressive thrashy shouts to high-pitch black metal shrieks in a highly commendable display of throat skills.

"Collapse in Eternal Worth" explodes with pummeling riffing and blasting that signals Goatwhore's intentions from the get-go. The pace hardly lets up, while the arrangements provide some intelligent twists. _Blood for the Master_ does provide some melodic moments as well: the guitar solo on "In Deathless Tradition" and the soaring guitars that give way to glorious riffing on "Embodiment of This Bitter Chaos" are yet more examples of the level of musicianship on display. "Parasitic Scriptures of the Sacred Womb" and "Death to the Architects of Heaven" have a slightly old-school feel to their riffs and they're executed with ample class but the riffing champion in my book would definitely be "Judgment of the Bleeding Crown".

You know what's also great about this record? It's not pretentious. It seems to give off a street-cred feel that makes you feel like these guys are more than happy to just make music and have fun with it; but in a totally metal way. Goatwhore don't give off an arrogant impression. _Blood for the Master_ is heavy, aggressive, groovy, sharp and shit loads of metal. What else are you looking for?