Servants Of The Apocalyptic Goat Rave - Queen Of Darkness review
| Band: | Servants Of The Apocalyptic Goat Rave |
| Album: | Queen Of Darkness |
| Style: | Experimental black metal |
| Release date: | January 22, 2018 |
| A review by: | Auntie Sahar |
01. Worship
02. Queen Of Darkness
03. Kali Rises
04. Destroyed
05. Scourge
06. Xiombarg
07. Mortal Bodies
08. End Of Chaos
Merging extreme metal with more mainstream genres of music, at times making it more accessible and even danceable, is a strange venture one's inner cynic would probably assume wouldn't be overly inclined to success. But that certainly doesn't stop Servants Of The Apocalyptic Goat Rave from trying, now does it?
Servants Of The Apocalyptic Goat Rave is one of several projects from the mind of Dutch experimentalist Jason Köhnen, also of note for The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble as well as his work under the Bong-Ra moniker. Servants was actually started a good while ago, back in 2005, but was at that point more inclined to breakcore, with not much metallic influence to it. With the project more or less being revived recently after a hiatus period, 2018's Queen Of Darkness is a much more extreme release, one that quite literally seems to be nothing less than a full assault of electronic black metal. I've always been particularly interested in seeing how extreme metal type riffage can be replicated with instruments not normally used for metal, and in this regard Queen Of Darkness is a real treat, as its frenetic barrage of synths and electronic drums creates an aggressive, strangely catchy storm of black metal weirdness.
While appearing quite harsh and unrelenting most of the time as it rips away at you with blasts from the drum machine, Queen Of Darkenss is thankfully a pretty diverse listen as well. Some "brighter" moments, speaking comparatively, do pop up now and then where the more bass heavy synths drop out and more high pitched ones take over ("Worship"), or little interludes where things slow down considerably and you get plunged into more of a lazy, floating type of feeling ("Kali Rises"). While in a relative minority against the more energetic aura of the bulk of the album, moments like these nonetheless serve as a pleasant, more restrained contrast amidst the chaos, moments that stop Queen Of Darkenss from becoming an all out flesh tearing electro black metal nightmare.
Queen Of Darkness is a great release for both alluding to what else has been done in the realm of electronic black metal as well as putting its own, completely unique mark on the style. Listening to this album I'm at times reminded of Cloak Of Altering, Netra, and even some of the more extreme moments from the latest GosT album, but thankfully Servants doesn't wander too far in the direction of any of those artists. Violent, chaotic, but also oddly relaxing and layered, Queen Of Darkness makes for one hell of a listen. If you're a fan of electronic music and extreme metal and often find yourself curious as to what the two would sound like if combined, do yourself the favor and start that rave on up.
Comments
Comments: 18
Visited by: 171 users
| RaduP CertifiedHipster Staff Posts: 9030  |
Don't try to tell me that not only are Bong Ra and Sun Ra different things, but also he was part of The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble??
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989  |
Written by RaduP on 12.11.2018 at 18:32 Yeah Kohnen's been involved with experimental ambient and electronic type stuff for a good while. Funny to see how he started off though, from what I understand years ago he was in this Dutch death metal band called Blurrghhh (I spelled that wrong) that was about as generic as generic death metal can get
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Staff Posts: 9030 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 12.11.2018 at 18:38 We all gotta start somewhere. Alcest was a meat and potatoes black metal band once.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374  |
I remember how their set was SO MUCH better than Bong Ra which just bored me. On the third track now and really liking this. Kind of like a fun drug-influenced Cloak Of Altering. I really like how projects like this don't really go for industrial black metal but actually try to fuse PURE electronic sound with black metal.  Written by Auntie Sahar on 12.11.2018 at 18:38 Written by RaduP on 12.11.2018 at 19:05 AAAAH YA GUYZ BOUT TO GET SCHOOLED Che, you REALLY should check out Bluuurgh.... Not only it is GREAT death metal but very innovative for the genre and period. Also we are talking about an album from 1992 (that means it was released just one year after Blessed Are The Sick). I'm not going to give away too many details (cuz you guys deserve a proper review-lesson from yours truly!) but it is quite adventurous at times. The vocals for example are what happens when you say "I like Death but Chuck's vocals suck..." They even remind me of depressive black metal in their performance (or a far more desperate Martin van Drunen from Asphyx). Some ingredients of thrash and even crossover a la Suicidal Tendencies can be heard in one track (and still sounding death metal)... Oh, and they end their album with a 6 min (good) electronic track. In 1992. So Kohnen wa sinvolved in weird shit from the beginning. Bluuurgh... is just a similar case with Phlebotomized. A pretty dumb and misleading band name that hides great and original death metal. Review incoming! Until then, do yourselves a favor.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| 0mn1v0r3 Posts: 26  |
"Merging extreme metal with more mainstream genres of music" What kind of crack are you smoking thinking breakcore is mainstream music?
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by 0mn1v0r3 on 13.11.2018 at 22:48 Electronic music is way more open to the mainstream than black metal is, I'm just speaking comparatively. I admit I'm not that familiar with breakcore, and for that I apologize, we can't all be sophisticated intellectuals like yourself
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 13.11.2018 at 17:18 Ok man, consider my ass schooled. I'll take your word for it and get on it as soon as I can, I love early examples of more experimental tendencies in extreme metal from like the 80s and 90s
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| 0mn1v0r3 Posts: 26 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 14.11.2018 at 00:34 Saying "Electronic music" is like saying "Rock music". There's just as much if not more diversity of sound under that one umbrella than metal in all honesty. Equating this to what people think of as "mainstream" electronic music you're basically telling other uncultured individuals this is like black metal mixed with "insert big name prerecorded set performer(IE skrillex, bassnectar, tiesto, deadmau5, etc) because they also don't know anything about electronic music. You aren't going to hear End.user, Sa-|-an, knifehandchop, Dev/Null or Hecate etc on any radio station even an electronic focused one. Food for thought, just because something is electronic music doesn't make it mainstream. You wouldn't call The Berzerker mainstream so don't mislead people out of ignorance.
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by 0mn1v0r3 on 14.11.2018 at 02:44 Yeah, I get where you're coming from on this, just seems like a rather small thing to pick at. I'd hardly think most people are reading this review with a "Wtf he implied breakcore is mainstream music?! Such inaccuracy!" type reaction. Thanks for the constructive, if not harshly phrased criticism though, I guess
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Staff Posts: 9030 |
Written by 0mn1v0r3 on 14.11.2018 at 02:44 Electronic """"""music"""""" They don't even play real instruments
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| Mercurial Posts: 1175  |
If we're being really fussy I'd say this is closer to some kind of industrial hardcore than it is breakcore, but it's a fun album regardless  one of the better meldings of black and industrial electronics I've heard in the past few years.
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| Mercurial Posts: 1175 |
Written by 0mn1v0r3 on 14.11.2018 at 02:44 Good criticisms + over-reactive, emotional presentation = diminished conclusory impact.
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374 |
Written by Mercurial on 14.11.2018 at 13:27 Yeah that's also why my first girl broke up with me.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Mercurial Posts: 1175 |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 15.11.2018 at 13:00 Yeah you gotta criticise her gently to slowly grind her self-esteem down to the point where she'll never leave you.
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| Kursma Posts: 8  |
Thanks for bringing this up. Good stuff that would have gone otherwise unnoticed by me. Cheers!
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| The Entity Posts: 545  |
Interesting, ever since I got the idea to do a black metal techno kinda project I have found more & more of these already existing electronic black metal bands. Inspiring!
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by The Entity on 17.11.2018 at 16:08 I could definitely go for some more techno-fused black metal, so if you get anything of yours up and streaming somewhere online, feel free to send me a link
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Karlabos Posts: 5736  |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 17.11.2018 at 18:44 You should consider listening to Clasp
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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