Interview by Trevor Proctor.
Goatsmegma first came to my attention with their fantastic debut album, 'Demonic Goat Smegma Eating Ritual' which was released in June 2019. This was followed in 2020 by an excellent split which they shared with Canada's Antichrist and was featured on my Top 25 EP listing for that year. Goatsmegma are set to return with their second album 'Goat Separatist Movement,' which will be released by Godz of War Productions on the 10th of June. Ahead of this highly anticipated release I had the opportunity to interview the band as well as hosting an exclusive stream of the entire album which you can hear at the bottom of this interview. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Goatsmegma for their detailed answers and Greg from Godz of War Productions for giving me this opportunity.
Hi, I hope all’s good with Goatsmegma. First, and most importantly, thank you for agreeing to conduct this exclusive interview and album stream with The Lair of Filth; I really appreciate the time taken to answer these questions. For those reading who may not have heard much about Goatsmegma could you please tell us a little about the band, it’s style of music and your formation?
Goathanger666: Goatsmegma was formed mid 2018 as a trio, but soon after a second guitarist joined us for about a year or so, but he was kicked out due to misunderstandings inside the band. During the recording of our split with Antichrist we were a trio again. Some time later we found a second guitarist, Commander of the Demonic Axe, with whom we have done several gigs and recorded our second album. Musically I'd say we are a mishmash of death and black metal with some added aggressive elements to put it bluntly.
Wroth Desecrator: While forming the band, since the very beginning, we wanted the themes to be as brutal and perverted as possible as guides to our style for the music. It has to be the ugliest and most ruthless attack - that is what Goatsmegma is.
Your first release was the album entitled, ‘Demonic Goat Smegma Eating Ritual,’ which was released initially on cassette and digital formats – how content were you as a band with your debut release and its sound?
Goathanger666: Of course we were and still are happy how the debut turned out. At the time we wanted a more cavernous raw sound and that was the sound we were satisfied with.
Wroth Desecrator: Very satisfied.
Six months after the release of ‘Demonic Goat Smegma Eating Ritual’ the album received much wider attention when Morbid Chapel Records reissued it on CD and digital formats – were you pleased with the presentation etc. of the CD edition and did you ever think your first release would be reissued so soon by such a well-established label?
Goathanger666: Yes, of course! Morbid Chapel Records crew were really helpful and together we created a CD release that has reached a wide audience around the world. We did a second repress of the cassette ourselves, but we have gotten requests to do an LP release, so perhaps in the future we'll make this happen as well hopefully with the cooperation of a label who knows what they are doing.
‘Demonic Goat Smegma Eating Ritual’ was followed the next year with the split you shared with Antichrist and released by one of the underground’s leading labels – Nuclear War Now! Productions. How did it feel to have what was only your second recording released by such a prominent label and how impressed were you as a band with the CD & LP editions by Nuclear War Now!?
Goathanger666: It felt really good and the release definitely put us on the extreme metal map. NWN! hosts a lot of bands we look up to so it is an honor to have a manifestation under one of the titans of the extreme underground.
Wroth Desecrator: It is an honour to be recognized by the Ross Bay maniacs who agreed to this collaboration. Hail Antichrist!
Within the next few days your second album, ‘Goat Separatist Movement’ will be released – how satisfied is the band with the final recording and could you tell us a little about the writing process, and are all members involved in the writing of tracks?
Goathanger666: Of course we are satisfied with the result. We wouldn't put out something we arent fully pleased with. Usually the writing progress starts with Wroth, who creates the template for a song and then we try and tweak it at rehearsal.
Wroth Desecrator: Sadistic Hellblast Impaler sets the tone with the titles of the songs. I write the riffs and then I and Goathanger666 write the lyrics.
The album was mixed & mastered by Are Kangus – had you worked with him before and could you tell us about the recording process and did this process differ in any ways when compared to your previous recordings?
Goathanger666: We have worked with Are on all of our albums so we knew what he needed and he knew what we expected from him. Working with him went quite fast since we dont record the usual 'instrument by instrument' way. We basically do a higher quality rehearsal recording - we play guitars and drums at the same time without a metronome so the recording has an unpolished sound. After that we record vocals and bass.
Wroth Desecrator: On the 1st album we recorded every instrument at the same time, only vocals were done separately. Just this one difference.
How do you feel your new album compares to your two previous releases? I have both of them and whilst I think they are both great I feel Goat Separatist Movement is your strongest material to date – do you agree with this?
Wroth Desecrator: It is really hard to compare for me. The first one is always special. It has bestiality with the cave sound. And the split had more brutality and massiveness in my opinion. The newest release I think is more militant destruction, and yes I agree, the new material feels stronger.
The artwork and logo for the album are the creations of HLA – what led you to select him and how happy are you with the final album artwork?
Goathanger666: HLA is a really talented artist and a really close assosiate with the band. Working with her is always nice because she knows exactly what we look for.
Wroth Desecrator: She also did our debut album artwork. So with the new one there was no question about it who would do it for us this time.
Goat Separatist Movement is being released by another of the underground’s strongest labels – Godz of War Productions, how did this partnership begin and are there many bands on the Godz of War roster that you’re familiar with?
Goathanger666: GOW hosts a lot of great polish metal acts like Odraza, Biesy, Gruzja, Truchło strzygi and Sznur just to name a few. We have been listening to the forementioned bands for quite a while and have their physical formats which have a really good quality so when we were finished recording the album we started reaching out to labels who would be interested in releasing our album. GOW was one of the first labels we wrote to and one of the first labels to answer. Since we knew the label and the quality they put into their releases it was no question for us. Working with GOW has been really smooth and I can see why they are that successful.
Wroth Desecrator: Eggs Of Gomorrh, Bestial Warfare, Anima Damnata, Kommando Baphomet and of course Pig's Blood, Putrid, Stillborn are all great ones.
Are there currently any plans for a vinyl edition of Goat Separatist Movement?
Goathanger666: Hopefully in the near future.
Goatsmegma has enjoyed a steady output of first class material since your formation in 2018 – have you any new material written for future releases?
Goathanger666: We are ready to start working on our new releases after Goat Separatist Movement is released. I cant say much, but our next release will be with another titan of war metal.
Wroth Desecrator: I have plenty of material for another full length.
I’m aware you played live at the Howls of Winter VII festival in early 2020 – had you played live previous to this, and do you have many up-coming gigs planned?
Goathanger666: Yea we have had a few small gigs besides Howls Of Winter, the biggest being sharing a stage with Belphegor. We had quite a few big gigs lined up outside of Estonia but then covid hit and everything went on standby. As of right now we are playing in Poland at Black Silesia and in Finland at Finnish Death Metal Maniacs.
Extreme underground death/black metal has witnessed a massive surge in popularity in the last few years – do you feel this is a good thing for the sub-genre and do you feel the underground will still have such a big audience in future years?
Goathanger666: As long as the newcomers aren't posers then we are happy to welcome new maniacs into the scene.
Wroth Desectrator: Hail to the true maniacs!
An unfortunate side-effect of this rise in popularity is a rise in attempted censorship etc., what are your thoughts on censorship and those who seek to control what we listen to?
Goathanger666: Fuck censorship. True underground will always crush the attempts to dilute our music.
Wroth Desecrator: They should be sadistically murdered by goat rebels.
Which three bands would you say have influenced Goatsmegma’s sound the most?
If you were able to share a stage with any five bands, past or present, which bands would you pick, and why?
Wroth Desecrator: The legendary Conqueror would be one for sure. I don't think I need to explain. Revenge, Black Witchery, Morbosidad, Blasphemy... They have been the biggest influences and idols for me. I believe the rest of Goatsmegma agrees.
What releases from 2021 did you enjoy the most and what upcoming releases are you most looking forward to in 2022?
Wroth Desecrator: Antichrist Siege Machine - 'Purifying Blade,' Archgoat - 'Worship the Eternal Darkness,' Savage Necromancy - 'Feathers Fall to Flames,' Diocletian - 'Darkness Swallows All,' and for this year (upcoming): Eggs Of Gomorrh - 'Wombspreader,' Blood Chalice - 'The Blasphemous Psalms of Cannibalism.' From those which have already been released this year I'd recommend: Triumph - 'Retaliation Warfare,' Archgoat - 'All Christianity Ends.' (EP).
Are there any other bands within the Estonian underground you feel deserve more attention?
Thanks again for agreeing to this interview, it’s been great getting some more information on a band which I feel has a very important role to play in the future of our underground and I hope we hear a lot more from Goatsmegma in the near future – do you have any closing comments?
Wroth Desecrator: Dark impurity shall prevail the night!
Thank you for the interesting questions! Support the true underground! !!!TOTAL GOAT WORSHIP!!!
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