Following the release of their first demo, aptly titled Demo '87, GOATLORD made a conscious effort to modify their musical approach in such a way that would eventually lead to their present-day status as visionaries in the subgenre of black doom metal. By the time they had recorded the Sodomize the Goat demo in 1988, the original versions of the songs from the first demo had been altered to a state that convincingly reflected a sort of manic, LSD-induced psychosis. Although the faster, death/thrashier sections of songs like "Possessed Soldiers of War" were still present, the slower, reality-distorting segments of the same songs had been accentuated to a point where the reworked versions of the Demo '87 tracks had taken on a life of their own. Moreover, the hideous emergence of newer tracks, such as "Twilight Rem" and "Distorted Birth," upped the ante of this new crossbreed of doomed black/death by pushing song-length boundaries past the nine-minute mark.
Review
Inhuman slow-downs are also part of the macabre feast, as the oppressive song 'Twilight Rem' can testify - a highly remarkable track which also happens to be the doomiest composition ever written by Goatlord. Haunted by insane distortions, it creeps onward like a catatonic body, so slowly you can almost see the viscous trail it leaves in its wake. That song is a true anticipation of diSEMBOWELMENT's Doom! Daring and flawless, Goatlord can be branded as one of the ultimate bands of their time, nothing less. And this demo, 'Sodomize the Goat', comes as a kind of synthesis of everything extreme Metal was about in the 80s. After this masterpiece which helped to make Goatlord a cult band, the quartet from Las Vegas headed for a short but hectic future. But this is another story... - Doom Metal 5/5
