New Orleans’ Goatwhore Return To Chicago For Second Round Of Black Metal Live At Reggies

Nov 08, 2023 admin_bitlc Features, Music News, Reviews 0

By Christopher David

New Orleans’ black-metal masters Goatwhore brought their current tour to Reggie’s on Sunday, along with some friends to round out a stellar bill of Satanic doom. Philadelphia’s Spiter hit the stage like a bomb for a half hour of relentless black metal tinged with punk, calling to mind early Bathory at times. Fresh from the release of their first full length, Bathe the Babe in Bat’s Blood, the trio received a phenomenal response and showed tremendous potential as a future headliner, and Atlanta’s Withered followed with a crushing set of sludgy death metal before the main act.

Goatwhore have well established themselves as perhaps the finest American black metal band, incorporating elements of early thrash and death metal along with arrangements that continually surprise the listener, as opposed to straightforward song structure. Lead vocalist L. Ben Falgoust II and guitarist/backing vocalist Sammy Duet have complimentary styles, trading verses and callbacks on “Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult” and “Born of Satan’s Flesh” from 2022’s Angels Hung from the Arches of Heaven. Falgoust thanked the Chicago crowd numerous times, and indeed, Goatwhore have received a phenomenal response every time they’ve hit our fair city, the last few times at Reggie’s in particular, and small wonder—the main room at Chicago’s most infamous metal club is tailor-made for the band’s particular brand of brutality, most notably on fan favorite “Apocalyptic Havoc” and set closer “Baring Teeth for Revolt.”