2 Way Review - 'Haemophagus / Mausoleum + Blasphmachine / Goatlusting Chaos.'

Here at the Lair of Filth we’re committed to bringing you information on some of the best music the underground has to offer from far flung corners of the globe. To this end I (Trevor) have just reviewed two recent 7” split releases from four bands that may have slipped under your radar yet thoroughly warrant at least a listen by your good selves.

Haemophagus / Mausoleum – Slime / Intense Mortification (Equinox Discos, Signature Riff and Eyes of the Dead.)

First up is an interesting split release from Haemophagus and Mausoleum which was released during August 2015. To be honest this is a 7” that may I may not have heard were it not for Edu from Equinox Discos who very kindly brought it to my attention a few weeks ago, so thanks Edu! The best thing about split releases is quite often they bring you music from at least one band you may not have heard before and this was the case for me on this release with Haemophagus. On formation in Italy during 2005 Haemophagus released their demo “Into the Mortuary” and since then have brought us two full length albums and a total of ten splits. Their music is grindcore death metal and if you had to draw comparisons to other more established bands I suppose you’d probably go with Repulsion. Testimony to this is the fact they contributed a cover of “Excruciation” for the “Tribute to Repulsion” album released via German label FDA Rekotz in2009. Their side is entitled “Slime” and features three tracks, Slime, Kidnapped and Brutalized and Teleport to Madness. In typical grind style all three have short durations with each lasting under two minutes. Having said that, there’s still plenty of room on each track for shit loads of riffs and the occasional, very brief, section of clean guitar work. Fast, brutal, relentless and heavy as fuck it grinds like a champion and should give you a bit of a taste for more of their music.

Pennsylvanian band Mausoleum was formed in 2001 by Robert Yench who also currently plays with Morpheus Descends and has in the past performed with, amongst others, bands like Incantation and Brimstone. The other members of the band also have extensive experience in other bands, including Gehenna and Goreaphobia. Their music is death Metal that lyrically centres on themes of gore, death and zombies. To date they have brought us two studio albums, a split release with Offal and a live album “Eating Your Fucking Brains” which was their most recent output, out on digital formats last year. Their occupancy of side B makes for a change in pace in comparison to Haemophagus and features a cover of Impetigo’s Intense Mortification that plays fairly true to the original albeit with a bit of a chunkier, heavier edge due to a more prominent guitar tone and at just less than three minutes it serves its purpose in being a good introduction to the band, what you’ve got here is a group of very experienced individuals playing some excellent death metal.

Blasphmachine/Goatlusting Chaos - Infernal Gathering ov Blasphegoat Elites (Witchery Records)

I first heard of Blasphmachine via the excellent Misanthropic Generation tape label that brought us their Salvation album earlier this year, with a CD version featuring two extra tracks also being released recently by German label Dunkelheit Produktionen. I reviewed the Salvation album in full just a couple of weeks ago so for more detailed information you can check out the review HERE. Both bands featured on this split are from Malaysia, and both have been active for a number of years - Goatlusting Chaos was formed during 2011 with Blasphmachine following in 2012. Salvation from Blasphmachine is an exceptional album and still gets regular listens, their style of music is fast paced blasphemous death metal with a degree of catchiness to it. The two tracks featured, Heathen Fire and Malleus, and Maleficarum are two highlights from the album and make for a solid start to this release. Blasphmachine’s tracks span just over five minutes between them, five minutes that flies past all too quickly in a blaze of demonic vocals and grinding metal of death.

Goatlusting Chaos plays blasphemous, anarchic, thrash-infused black metal that doesn’t fuck about. Between 2011 and 2013 they released two demos and a split which they shared with fellow Malaysian band Reficul Esruc which is Lucifer Curse spelt backwards. 

Goatlusting Chaos has two tracks, Thy Souls for Iblyssi and Annihilate the Jewish Whores. Thy Souls for Iblyssi is a three minute track released in June last year as a digital single. It’s a track that fully deserves this physical release and to be fair a much wider audience as well. Annihilate the Jewish Whores is a previously unreleased track and was recorded during a band rehearsal so as you’d expect the sound quality is extremely ropey but there’s enough audibility to show it’s a solid enough track and one they should definitely give the studio treatment in the future. To be honest I hadn’t heard of Goatlusting Chaos prior to this release, but as is the case with Haemophagus I’m glad to have heard their music and will be keeping a watch out for future releases. You can access a sample from Thy Soul for Iblyssi HERE to give them a listen yourself….

This split was released in a very limited quantity of thirty and came in the form of a box set containing a t-shirt, 7” lathe cut vinyl, cassette and two candles, all for a mere $25 – it’s a very impressive package and I was lucky enough to track down one of the remaining copies and am patiently awaiting its arrival. Unfortunately the bad news is the box sets have long sold out but the band will hopefully re-issue either the cassette or 7” vinyl version when there is demand for it, which I’d say is a sure bet as it’s a tidy enough release from two talented bands.

To a certain extent I tend to view split releases as samplers as they often bring new music to you and for me this was the case with two of these bands – Haemophagus and Goatlusting Chaos, though the music from all four bands across both these releases is top notch. Two brilliant 7” vinyl both of which are well worth the few dollars their labels are asking for them. Four bands well worth a listen and a few minutes of your time….both releases get a solid 8 out of 10.

The Haemophagus / Mausoleum split is available from Equinox Discos, Eyes of the Dead Productions and Signature Riff Productions.

The Blasphmachine / Goatlusting Chaos split was released by Witchery Records.