Milking the Goatmachine gathers its sheeps.
To celebrate its fifteenth anniversary, the band led by Goatleeb Udder (vocals/drums, Demonbreed, Miseo, Knife…) and Goatfreed Udder (guitar/bass, Carnal Ghoul, Demonbreed, ex-Lay Down Rotten…) has released its tenth album, Neue Platte, on Reaper Entertainment.
The Squeal Session kicks off the album with sampled vocals, quickly followed by the usual violence you’d expect from the herd. Groovy jerky riffs and beastly howls walk hand in hand before welcoming an unexpected… clean vocals, then the final moshpart drops us on Feed Me, Milk Me, Comb Me which immediately takes over with an energetic rhythm. The mix is relatively modern, but respects the band’s raw approach, just as on Children of the Horn, which places devastating OId School patterns at pace to punctuate the charge. The track is obviously very catchy, as is Extreme Wolves Terror, which offers more haunting sounds, punctuated by virulent devastating explosions during which the musicians literally crush everything in their path, even adopting Brutal/Slam Death elements. The Wrong One To Milk With offers us a moment of respite with its ominous intro sample, then the band expresses itself with heaviness, without forgetting its Grind roots, while Old School Death returns in force on In Battle There Is No Straw. A familiar, extremely groovy tune returns on Boots Bloody Boots, which remains in this massive approach right up to the last second, then Twilight of the Thundergoat allows us a brief moment to breathe before returning to pure violence thanks to solid riffs. Ironically, a few darker influences can be found on Funky Funeral as the blast savagely bludgeons us, then Iss’n Köttel, Mach’n Köttel, the album’s shortest composition, suddenly explodes and covers us with thick unstoppable riffs. Napalm Grass slows the pace a bit for its heady rhythms and imposing parts, but Kraut im Bart und Quark im Fell blows it back up to full speed with a combination of ultra-fast drums and dynamic guitars. The album ends (already) with an unexpected George Michael cover, taking Careless Whisper to the thick violent side of music.
Beyond the tracks’ fun side, Milking the Goatmachine has a near-infinite punch, offering with Neue Platte thirteen new tracks with a marked identity, all rallying around the same concept: maximum violence.
90/100