review by: Megan Leo

Goatwhore have been very active on the live circuit lately, opening up for such legendary acts as Venom, and now on this current tour, Celtic Frost. Touring in support of their latest album, A Haunting Curse (out now on Metal Blade) further cementing themselves in the pantheon of American metal acts that stand out in a truly distinct fashion.

The band took to the stage in spikes, bracers and black, with backs to the banner reading “Goatwhore.” Wielding a pointy axe and infernal bass, Sammy Duet and Nathan Bergeron unleashed a hell storm of riffery, backed by the artillery of drum sound provided by Zack Simmons. Vocalist Ben Falgoust stalked the stage and let loose demon screams and malevolent lows backed also by Duet.

Goatwhore played a mix of material spanning their three albums, Eclipse of Ages into Black, Funeral Dirge for the Rotting Sun and their latest, A Haunting Curse. All of the songs were well received by the audience. In between songs, audience members could be heard shouting the typical song requests as well as a few cries of “NOLA!” in reference to the band's hometown. Probably of best crowd response was as Goatwhore launched into the tune “Invert the Virgin,” off of the Eclipse of Ages into Black. The place went wild, and the energy carried through as they played “A Haunting Curse.”

At one point in the set, Falgoust gave a little speech on their allegiance to old school metal, such as Celtic Frost. It is easy to see, for this group opening for one of their long worshiped favorite bands (Goatwhore frequently have covered “Into the Crypts of Rays”) it is a the fulfillment of a metal dream. Their enthusiasm truly shows in this regard. They even teased a riff, but didn’t go so far as playing an entire Frost song.

The band ended with another track off their latest release, called “Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult,” and promised those in attendance they would soon return. The audience responded enthusiastically and we eagerly wait their return.

Long had I thought seeing Celtic Frost play live was a dream that would never come to pass. Fortunately this was not so, and this show exceeded my expectations.

Into the dimly lit, fog-induced stage setting, the band emerged from backstage after moments passed in the darkened hall for the audience to get a sense of anticipation. Clad in black, the lineup of Tom G. Warrior, Martin Eric Aim, Franco Sessa, and live guitarist Anders Odden launched into “Procreation of the Wicked.” This set the tone for the tunes to follow with its much slowed riffery and lower tuning than that of the original recording.

The next songs the band played were the classics “Visions of Mortality,” “Circle of the Tyrants,” “The Usurper” and “Jewel Throne.” For the most part, the songs were greatly slowed, but some retained more of the original feel than others, such as “Jewel Throne,” which was played at right about the original tempo. Missing from the set list was noticeably material from the Cold Lake album, much to most attendees’ approval.

An interesting choice was “Mesmerized” from Into the Pandemonium, which in the live rendition here, I much prefer to the original. The treatment of it with its slightly harsher vocals and heavier sounding guitars made it much more compelling. From the new album, they played “Ground” (with its striking chorus of “oh, god, why have you forsaken me?”) “Ain Elohim,” and “Synagoga Satanae,” all of which had a distinct, sludgy doom-inflected feel.