"there is no way you're not using chatgpt for at least a few things here and there no matter your stance on it" what the FUCK are you talking about

Product Placement
tumblr dot com
One Nice Bug Per Day

★
Claire Keane
Three Goblin Art

Love Begins

⁂

JVL
Xuebing Du
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH

Origami Around
NASA
Mike Driver
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
Not today Justin
Game of Thrones Daily
art blog(derogatory)
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from India
seen from United States
seen from Israel

seen from Malaysia
seen from Peru

seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from Colombia
seen from Morocco

seen from Malaysia

seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from India
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from India
@mariahshantay
"there is no way you're not using chatgpt for at least a few things here and there no matter your stance on it" what the FUCK are you talking about
Eye of newt and toe of frog: what was really in the witches’ cauldron in Macbeth? (CW: torture, death, historical racism, historical antisemitism, animal and human body parts) Ever since Scott Cunningham first made the following claim in the 1980s, there has been an increasingly widely circulated belief that the ingredients of the Macbeth potion were not grisly animal parts at all but merely herbs and plants, concealed under code names:
“every ingredient (Shakespeare) lists as being in the witches' pot refers to a plant and not the gruesome substance popularly thought”
This proposal had not appeared at all in analyses of Shakespeare prior to Cunningham’s Magical Herbalism: The Secret Craft of the Wise but is now extremely popular, especially the often-cited proposal that ‘eye of newt really meant mustard seed’. Lists of ‘herbal codes’ circulate online, purporting to explain all the different ingredients of the Macbeth potion away as plants. Witches, according to these lists, were grossly misrepresented. Their grisly concoctions were nothing but herbal mixtures.
Code-names and substitutions have certainly played a part in magic in history. Cunningham was familiar with, and makes reference to, the Greek Magical Papyri in which a famous list of secret substitutions is given. For example, ‘the tears of a Hamadryas baboon’ are to be taken to mean ‘dill juice’. The concept of a secret herbal code in which grisly-seeming or mythical ingredients are in fact plants – and only the enlightened few are aware of this - was therefore not a new one.
Was Cunningham correct?
The Strange Death of Frank Ainsworth
On March 5th, 1993, Frank Ainsworth was found dead in bed in his trailer, in the small town of Ilwaco, Washington, a small fishing town that, at the time, only had about 900 people. Deputies found Frank deceased, after relatives had asked them to check on him.
Interestingly, one of the people who also asked for Frank to be checked on, was a man named Gregory Wood. Wood had told police that he was concerned “his friend may have overdosed on barbiturates.”.
The circumstances around Frank’s death revealed themselves to be, interesting, to say the least.
The Theft of Jimmy The Tiger
Somewhere, around September 1967, a tiger named Jimmy was born, and he was the only one out of his litter of 5 to survive. I assume that he was born in captivity, at the San Francisco Zoo, because the zoo director of the time, Ronald Reuther, took Jimmy to his home when Jimmy was only a few days old. I could not find any articles about Jimmy’s birth in the newspaper archives.
On December 11th, 1967, Jimmy the tiger wound up missing from the San Francisco Zoo. The Press Tribune released an article called, “Tiger Stolen From San Francisco Zoo”, stating that authorities were more concerned about the welfare of the tiger cub, than they were with the thief.
The article stated that they were more “afraid the missing animal would be loved to death”. He had big paws that he spent most of his time stumbling over, and delighted children with his “laughable growl”. At the time, he weighed 30 pounds.
Jimmy was valued at $750, which would be $7,185 when adjusted for inflation in 2025. At the time of the article, zoo director Ronald Reuther discounted money as a motive to steal Jimmy. He’s quoted saying:
“He was so lovable and so cute. I suppose someone just thought he would like to have Jimmy as his own.”.
Jimmy had made appearances at “some of the best schools and playgrounds, where a keeper stood by to protect Jimmy from his fans.”.
Jimmy had been taken from his locked cage in the lion house. Police stated that the lock had been cleanly picked, or opened with a key.
On December 14th, 1967, the Camarillo Star posted, “Tiger Cub’s On Way Home”. It stated that a Hermosa Beach pet shop owner was sending Jimmy back to the San Francisco Zoo. The shop owner, Ray Folsom, said he didn’t know that he was offered a “hot” tiger, when he purchased it from 3 hippies for $150…or $1437 in 2025.
Jimmy was returned by plane, and there were a few pictures taken on December 16th of that year. An article from The Sacramento Bee states that Ray Folsom, the man who bought Jimmy, immediately called the police when he heard of the missing tiger.
Jimmy was flown on Flying Tiger Airlines, and was coaxed down the ramp with a bottle of milk. When returned, zoo director Ronald Reuther said, “We’re awfully glad to have you back.”.
A clip from The Independent states that the hippies told Folsom they bought the tiger in Colorado.
Unfortunately, Jimmy’s life was cut incredibly short.
On December 23rd, 1967, The Houston Post released an article titled: “San Francisco Zoo’s Famous Tiger Cub Dies”. It states that Jimmy choked on a piece of meat. Ronald Reuther waited to initially announce Jimmy’s death, until they were sure he wasn’t poisoned. Apparently, night watchman Joe Colla, had been making his rounds, and found Jimmy lying down in his cage. He thought Jimmy looked ill, and immediately summoned Reuther, who took Jimmy to the zoo hospital. Jimmy died an hour or so later. Jimmy was in prefect health until the small piece of meat caught in his windpipe.
I am unsure of what they did to Jimmy’s remains, and the hippies that stole him, were never caught.
The Secret Life Of A Satanist book review
The reason I read this book, strangely, is because I had a dream about it one night, during the summer of 2025. In my dream, I was in a courtroom, watching Karla and Zeena. Someone, a disembodied female voice, told me to read ”The Secret Life of A Satanist” to understand more about Karla and Zeena. At the time, I was still reading through the 2022 version of “We Are Satanists”.
WHEN THE KITE STRING POPS
[Album Review]
“When The Kite String Pops” is an album that I’ve been familiar with for a long time, yet never got around to reviewing.
I first came across the album in the early 2000’s, when I was a young teen, and through the various online forums, I remember seeing someone use this album cover for their avatar. I’ll never forget looking it up, and reading what little information there was, about Acid Bath at the time. For many years, there wasn’t that much info about the band, though a lot of that changed once Sammy Duet did his live streams, during the covid years.
SAINT MARTIN PARISH, LOUISIANA JANE DOE
On February 19th, 1982 a partially skeletonized set of human remains were found on the river side of the levee, at the Belle River. On namus, it states that Jane Doe was estimated to have been 40-55 years old, white, 5’4”, though her weight was unknown. At the time of discovery, she was estimated to have been deceased for 8 months, putting her death around late 1981.
NEEDLES JOHN DOE
On January 13th, 1969, a skull was found in the desert of Needles, California, lying on the sandy surface of a dry wash, just south of a dirth road, 300 yards west of highway 95. The skull, designated “John Doe #01-69”, did not included a torso or hands. According to namus, the remains were not recognizable; partial remains, with soft tissues.
Hair and eye color are unknown, and the skull was found, what I assume to have been completely bald, as they state on namus. John Doe is estimated to have been deceased for months prior to being found. His age range is from 20-40 years of age, though height and weight are unknown. There are no exclusions to the case, and his namus profile was created on August 25th, 2008.
One thing to note, is that John Doe had a deformity, a “large supra orbital notch on the right side, and a single supra orbital foramen on the left side.”.
He is not on the Doe network. I could not find any news articles about him either.
Source: https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/2456/details?nav
Chipps Island Doe
Chipps Island Doe, as I am calling them, was found on April 21st, 1968, in Chipps Island, California. The information to the case is extremely scant, with their gender and race uncertain. On namus, they are estimated to have been 12-14 years old, and may have been deceased for 1-2 years before being found. Namus states that they were located on Chipps Island in Honker Bay under approximately 4 inches of soil. The remains were not recognizable, partial skeletal parts only. Nothing else is known about this case. The namus profile was created on July 4th, 2023.
I did not find any more information about this scenario, and they were not listed on the Doe Network. This is a case, where information is so scant, to the point that I couldn’t find a news article about it, though one seemed similar, I was unsure if it was relevant to this case.
There have been 0 exclusion to the case, as of July 6th, 2025.
Source: https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/105170/details?nav
Sigmund Myers [Portland, Oregon]
Sigmund Myers is a man listed as missing from Portland, Oregon. The date of last contact, as on namus, is stated to have been January 1st, 1920. At the time of his disappearance, he was 44 years old. Though I don’t believe he is still alive today, if he somehow was, he’d be 147 years old.
Sigmund, also known as Sig, was a white male who was 5’9”, and 165-175 pounds. All details on namus are approximated from his family.
Babies In The Basement
Babies In The Basement Greencastle, Indiana Cold Case
While doing research for another video (LMX) I came across a news article that was chilling, and saddening.
1947 Provo, Utah Baby John Doe
On February 15th, 1947, a newborn baby boy was found in a clump of weeds at the Provo, Utah Golf Course, by three boys. The boys called the police and an inquest was held into the baby’s manner of death. The baby boy was described as white/Caucasian, and well developed. He was very badly decomposed. There were marks of violence on the body. The physician estimated that the baby had been in the water for one to two weeks. Police admitted they had no clues, and no leads, unless someone came forward, but the baby remains unidentified.
Carving Out The Eyes of God [Album Review]
Carving Out The Eyes of God [Album Review]
Before getting started, I have to preface by saying that this is simply my own opinion.
“Carving Out The Eyes of God” came out in 2009, and was Goatwhore’s 4th album. Their 2nd album with Metalblade, and their 2nd album produced by Erik Rutan.
I’m going to get straight to the point. I find this one to be Goatwhore’s weakest album, in their catalogue. It’s not bad, but for some reason, I just cannot find myself as interested in this album, like I have with all the others. Strangely enough, I find something very boring about it, but I don’t know why. Lyrically and instrumentally, it’s good. I suspect, for me, it has to do deal with the production of the album that I don’t like.
When I listen to the previous three Goatwhore albums, there seems to be this distinct medieval esoteric element to the music. While these elements are seen lyrically, artistically, even instrumentally to me, Carving seems to be missing that. While this is the 2nd album produced by Erik Rutan, it has a notably different sound from the previous album, “A Haunting Curse:.
[[GOUTWHORE]]
While Goatwhore is just loud in general, especially if you see them live, Carving is just LOUD to me in general. Many of Goatwhore’s albums start immediately, like a punch in the face. Carving, A Haunting Curse, Blood For The Master, and Constricting Rage For The Merciless are all like this.
Carving is a lot more “Power Metal” oriented to me. The guitars are loud, thrashy, and you see Benjamin’s vocal start start to adapt into what I call his “Medieval Krampus” style, and what ended up becoming a departure from the “clean spoken” type vocals from the first 2 albums. The, “Black Metal Moans of Despair” are completely gone bu this album, and do not re-emerge in their later releases, at least, in their discography up through 2022. The closest to this would be the song, “To Mourn and Forever Wander Through Forgotten Doorways”. To me, that sounds more like Krampus walking to himself though, than the type of “cleaner” vocals seen on the first 2 albums. That said, I like the song, and it’s one of my favorites from the album.
Speaking of favorite songs, there’s a few that really stick out to me on this album.
“Provoking The Ritual of Death” is really good to me, because of the way Sammy pulls on those strings at times. He’s got that kundalini, where he can make a riff so tantalizing, and dare I say, sexy. It’s something that I wished he did more on Goatwhore albums. This same sound is why I love the song, “Silence Marked By The Breaking of Bone” from the previous album, and why I love “Sonic Excess” album by Crowbar. He just knows how to bend those strings.
“In Legions, I Am Wars of Death” is another favorite, as the song gets really good when it gets to the part where Sammy screams “Rise”. It sounds so evil, and like they were summoning a storm for Leviathan. The way Sammy plays is like the rain that pours down violently at night, during a particularly violent torrent. This is a style that I find very definitive of this time period for him in general, something very prominent from the albums produced during the Rutan years.
“Shadow Of a Rising Knife” is the one that stuck out to me the most. It has a cadence lyrically, like that of A Haunting Curse, and the guitar riffs are very fun and punky. It gets heavier and more death metally, and I really enjoy the solos!
Other songs I liked were, “The All Destroying” and “Carving Out The Eyes of God”. I like “Apocalyptic Havoc”too, though that one is a given, since they tend to play that song live, and it’s a fun song to listen to live.
The more I listened to the album, the more I realized why I, personally, didn’t care for it that much. In a very strange way, “Carving Out The Eyes of God” is too modern for me. The way it’s produced is definitely an album that has “Rutan’s Curse” on it. Even though I know that Erik Rutan is a cool guy and talented musician, I just don’t like the way he produces albums. His most popular band to have produced for is, of course, Cannibal Corpse. Listen to other albums produced by Rutan from that era: KILL, Evisceration Plague. They have this same problem. While technically, it’s good, everything is modernized and put together on a computer at the end of the day, it somehow has its authenticity stripped from it. A lot of Rutan’s resume consists of creating walls of sound, that results in this “sterile” end production. I know that this will make people mad, but that’s how it comes off to me. Having seen Goatwhore live multiple times, I’ve really come to know their performances are like. They always put on a good show, and many songs sound better live, than what was recorded in the studio.
“Carving Out The Eyes Of God” isn’t a bad album, but I think it suffers greatly from how it was mastered or produced. You mainly hear Ben’s vocals and Sam’s guitars. Zack’s drums came third to me, and finally, I barely hear Nathan’s bass. Personally, I liked Nathan’s bass playing, greatly enjoying him on the previous album, “A Haunting Curse”. I’m not sure why his bass is put in the background on this album, along with Zack. To me, all parts of a band are equal. They are the “sum of their own parts”, to quote Johnny Kelly. I find it especially odd, considering how Sam and Zack have a playing style that really bounces off of each other, even more notable live. I just shake my head at whoever made those mixing decision on this album. To me, it was like Goatwhore was put into someone’s formula and they had more say, than the own band members of the album.
I bought the album on bandcamp, which allows for lossless versions of the album to be downloaded. I listen to almost all of my music in .flac, a lossless format that allows audio to be heard in a way that isn’t horrifically compressed. I think that, because of this, I really hear how loud Sammy’s guitars are, over the other members. I know that many people think of guitars first with Metal music, but I just find the way this is done, to be in a strange way. It would have been really nice to hear the bass on this album, is all I’m saying.
Overall, this is a decent album. A good metal album you’d probably expect, as a metal album should sound. But to me, it’s lacking in what makes something a phenomenal Goatwhore album. I suppose that I know, in hindsight, how talented these musicians can be. I suppose, in my eyes, I know how good this could be. I know how hard working, talented, dedicated, and determined Benjamin and Sammy are, especially.
I wish that this album would have been heaver. I wish that it was more estoteric like the ones before it. But I don’t hold it against them or anything.
If anything, “Carving Out The Eyes of God” is a stepping stone for Goatwhore. Another chapter in the book that had to be written, in order to further themselves in the next chapter of their books.
And it seems that the next chapter in their lives, was an exciting one, overall/
-Mariah
[Originally written 6/22/2025]
Blood For The Master [Album Review]
Blood For The Master [Album Review]
“Blood For The Master” was released on February 13th, 2012, though in some interviews from that time period, people thought that it came out on Valentine’s day. Close enough I guess. In various interviews with Ben Falgoust, he is quoted as saying that it wasn’t intentional, and just turned out that way.
Either way, the album starts out immediately in what is like a punch in the junk, a punch in the pussy which could summon blood…for the master.
This was Goatwhore’s 5th album, and the third produced by Erik Rutan. It’s a relatively short album, at 38 minutes, but the 37-40 minute area seems to be the sweet spot for Goatwore.
This time around, they had James Harvey on bass, who really seemed to change things around. James seemed to be like a breath of fresh air in the band, his playing style seemed to be a lot more naturally in tune with Zack and Sammy’s James having this Rock N Roll type style which perfectly melded with Zack’s drum style. What I also liked about James’ playing, was that he naturally was the rhythm to Sammy’s playing. You can tell that he just naturally knew what to do on that album. And I think that something should be said too, of the way this album is mixed. This one is much better than its predecessor, as each instrument is equal! I don’t have to turn on the equalizer to hear someone! Naturally, James’ bass is audible, and clearly there. You just have to know what you’re looking for.
“Parasitic Scriptures of The Sacred Word” is a fun and punky song. It really marks the beginning of this cycle of Goatwhore, where they endured this thrashy punk sound which became popular for this era. I can’t help but be a bit nostalgic when thinking of this time period. I graduated high school in 2011, and remember going to the record store with my first boyfriend. We’d browse the records at Ernie November’s in Rapid City, and on the speakers, music in this same tune would be playing.
I remember this era of “Neo-Thrash”, if that’s what you want to call it, becoming quite popular in the metal scene back in the 2010’s. I remember going to concerts in 2015 and 2016 that would have bands playing in this similar style. I remember this era of metal music quite well, and find myself very nostalgic about it, looking back. In many ways, this album reminds me of those nights walking around Downtown San Antonio waiting for a show to start; or going to the Korova when I went to see Deicide, and other bands. This album reminds me of those days where I went to the Aztec theater to see various bands there, like Steel Panther, Down, Obituary, and Cannibal Corpse. In some ways, it is like a bittersweet memory of the past.
I’m not that fond of the song “Judgement of the Bleeding Crown”. It’s not bad, but it just doesn’t groove to me. “Beyond The Spell of Discontent” is the same to me. Not bad, but I just don’t personally care for the blatant brute force of the riffs. Granted, I love that riff at the 2 minute mark of the song, where it’s got that bit of kundalini in it. But I’m a sucker for any time Sammy bends his guitar strings.
My absolute favorite song on this album is “Death To The Architects of Heaven”! It is like water in some ways. The song just flows. I don’t know why they never played this song live, at any of the shows of theirs that I went to. This song would be so awesome to hear live! It grooves, it’s thrashy, it’s punky, and dare I say, it’s something to shake your ass to! This song is a great example of the genius that Sammy Duet is capable of. I don’t know what magick happened for this song to come out this way, but something perfect happened here. I think that this is among one of Goatwhore’s greatest songs, seriously. What makes this song a bit different too, is how Sammy’s playing is like a storm, yes, but not in the usual frozen rain type of way that is on the rest of the album. This song is more like a summer storm, where the water is cool, but not freezing. Where the softness of the water breaks on your skin, and does not hurt, but there is still that danger of drowning.
The song right after that, “An End To Nothing”, is a great tune too. It’s a short song, but very fun and punky. I don’t recall them ever playing this one live at any of the shows I went to, though I wish they did. I know that this would be a great one live, people thrashing around, surely.
The final song on the album, “My Name Is Frightful Among The Believers” is an interesting one. Not because of anything different instrumentally, but it oddly reminds me of Anton Lavey. The song is 4 minutes and 11 seconds long, and Anton Lavey was born on April 11th. Even to this day, in 2025, there are Evangelists that use his name as a sort of boogeyman…making him frightful among believers. Probably a complete coincidence, but I thought that was interesting to note. The lyrics are obviously about apocalyptic themes though.
I don’t really have much to say about the album’s lyrics. It’s the same thing you’d normally expect from Ben Falgoust. He remains in the realm of the esoteric and anti-Christian, though you start to see on this album, his writing take a turn to fit the cadence of Sammy’s guitar playing. This doesn’t abbreviate the length of what is written, but the style more so. To me, reading through his lyrics, you see Benjamin become a bit more in tune with writing for the style of a song, and just a smidgen less of the verbose flow of literature that he’s accustomed to.
—
Blood For The Master marks the first of Goatwhore’s albums to have art created by Jordan Barlow. Barlow, a tattoo artist, and musician in his own right, would later go on to be employed for the art of the next three albums after this one. I think that he was great choice for becoming their album artist, as Barlow has a very esoteric style, and interests himself it seems. This seems to be something that he and Benjamin seemed to have bonded over, as you see a lot of the lyrics represented through Barlow’s art in the next releases also.
On the back of the album, you see more of Jordan’s artwork. What’s interesting to me, is how there are sigils of the band’s names at the bottom of the hourglass. Inside, is something that looks like a granfalloon, mourning souls in the hourglass of time.
— Overall, I think that Blood For The Master is a good album. It’s fun and punky at times, and nostalgic for that early 2010’s era. If you were the type to go to shows during this time period, for any band, this album might remind you of that.
-Mariah
CONSTRICTING RAGE OF THE MERCILESS [ALBUM REVIEW]
“Constricting Rage Of The Merciless” was released on July 8th, 2014. This was Goatwhore’s sixth album, and fourth to be produced by Erik Rutan. This would also be the last album to be produced by Rutan. Various interviews and even the wikipedia page note that the band recorded the audio on 2 inch tape. Personally, I don’t hear a difference between this and the other recordings that weren’t on tape. I think that comes down to the end production though.
Constricting starts off with “Poisonous Existence In Reawakening”, a song that, truly, sounds poisonous and venomous with Sam’s guitar riffage. I think about a pile of snakes ready to sink their teeth in you.
I feel like this album put less attention on James Harvey, from the production perspective. He seems to be put in the background, the bass being the least audible out of the other members. I have no idea why the album was produced this way.
Though I enjoy “Poisonous Existence”, I don’t really understand why the album starts with this song. In my person opinion, “Baring Teeth For Revolt” would have been a much better song to start off with, because it is high energy, and instantly draws the listener in.
I’m the type of person that views an album as an experience. For me, the final three albums Goatwhore had produced with Erik Rutan, it was more like a collection of songs. In juxtaposition with the first 2 albums, those are set up like an experience, each song perfectly placed one after the other. In the case of “Constricting”, I feel like this album is more a collection of songs, than the “Goatwhore Experience”.
I’m the type of person that listens to music with just about everything I do. This album is best listened to while driving or doing something relatively fast. Maybe an intense cardio workout or lifting weights. I remember going to a Cannibal Corpse concert in 2015, where I met a couple of body builders that listened to this type of Metal, and would lift to them. Obviously it worked, they were pretty buff.
“Nocturnal Conjuration of The Accursed” Is a punky kind of song. Pretty good, but it doesn’t stand out that much to me. “Schadenfreude” is similar, with this sear-faring sound, if that makes sense. It really reminds me of what songs would play at the bars and venues I’d see shows at in 2015 and 2016. It doesn’t stick out as a mega jam for me, though.
“Externalize This Hidden Savagery” is the final track on the album, and a strange way to end the album, in my opinion. It doesn’t feel like an “end” song, it seems out of place. To end the album with this song seems so sudden, and I usually end up thinking, “Wait, that’s it? The album’s over?”.
The most popular songs on this album are surely, “Baring Teeth For Revolt”, and “FBS”. Rightfully so, because these are great songs to listen to on the studio version and live. These songs are crowd hits, when I’ve seen them play. These are songs that you can shake you ass to! All I can say, is that Sam really knew what he was doing when he made those ones.
What’s interesting, is that you see Ben’s lyrics shift a little bit more to a song type cadence, following Sam’s guitar playing. Lyrically, Benjamin’s themes are essentially the same as always. Looking through, there are multiple mentions about serpents, which is fitting of the album art. Once again, we see Jordan Barlow’s work, in what seems to be an interesting interpretation of passage at the end of the bible, with the woman of wisdom, and the snakes with their diadems. I think it is a reference to Revelations 12.
“Baring Teeth For Revolt” has this fun, punky, Rock and Roll sense to it, which I love. It’s like a call back to “Alchemy of The Black Sun Cult” from “A Haunting Curse”. I know that I’ve said it before, but Sam can really make music to shake your ass too. I think a lot of that comes from his very Punk influences like, The Plasmatics.
My favorite song off the album is “Reanimated Sacrifice”, surprisingly. I’m surprised that I keep going back to that one, but it’s so high energy and fun, that I play it over and over again.
In general, this album is high energy. I’m sure that there’s a lot of cocaine and partying that went into this. What’s interesting to me, is that this album is looked at as one of their best examples of talent, or what someone ”should” listen to if they were to get into Goatwhore. I don’t really agree with that though. “Constricting Rage of The Merciless” isn’t a bad album, but, it does not show everything that these musicians are capable of. There are elements of their sound on other albums that are more consistent with how they play live versus this one. “A Haunting Curse” is a great representation of their high energy live. “The Eclipse of Ages Into Black” is perfect example of their Black Metal themes and esoteric interests. Naturally, Sammy leans towards the Black Metal sound, and his guitars are much heavier live than what you hear on “Constricting”. “Angels Hung From The Arches of Heaven”, their latest as of 2025, is the best representation of Benjamin’s vocals.
I’m not here to shit on anyone, or make people look bad. This is just my opinion. And, in my opinion, I think that a lot of people just instantly wanted to approve anything ever produced by Erik Rutan. I say this as someone who went to shows during the 2014-2017 era, where anecdotally, I would hear people just saying that any album was good because it was produced by Erik Rutan! That’s ridiculous! It always came off as a blind admiration, instead of actually taking the time to process, and analyze his work. To me, the best way to gauge someone’s work as a producer, is to compare his work of a band, with another producer’s work of the same band. In the case of Goatwhore, I really believe that they were constricted, no pun intended, by Erik Rutan. Those last three albums they produced with him feel like boxed in versions of themselves, to fit Erik Rutan’s idea of Goatwhore, as opposed to who Goatwhore were to themselves. I don’t hate Rutan. I just don’t like him as a producer.
Do I prefer this over “Carving”? Sure. But I prefer other albums than this one too. It’s not bad, it’s fun. It’s punky, but there is an element of magick lost here, that was found on “A Haunting Curse”. I still don’t understand what changed so drastically from that album produced by Erik Rutan, versus the next three. In my opinion, “Constricting” is the third best album that they made with Rutan. My favorite Rutan albums would be:
-A Haunting Curse -Blood For The Master -Constricting Rage For The Merciless -and Carving Out The Eyes of God.
While I’m very glad that they stopped recording with him, there are still really great songs that came out of this era. “Silence Marked By The Breaking of Bone”, “An End To Nothing”, “Death To The Architects of Heaven”, “Reanimated Sacrifice”, and “I Avenge Myself” are some of my favorite Goatwhore songs of all time. These all came out of the Rutan era. But when you listen to Goatwhore as a whole, their entire discography, there are elements from the Rutan era that are missing from their previous albums, or minimized. There are elements of Sam’s style that are completely gone, which you would have heard on other albums he’s played. I just think that it’s a conglomerate of strange decisions overall.
If the album could be rearranged, I’d place “Baring Teeth For Revolt” as the first song on the album, “Reanimated Sacrifice” second, “Poisonous Existence” third, and “Unraveling Paradise” fourth. I feel like that order would really change the way this album comes off, and in a way, makes it more high energy.
Goatwhore is a lot like a ship. Benjamin is the captain of that ship in many ways, the guiding force; the one who maps out the route they’ll take, and the one that’ll ensure their destination is met. Sam is the motor, the engine. He is the heart of it; working hard, and giving his all. Without these two, Goatwhore would not be. And it seems, that after this album, their boat changed course.
-Mariah
Back in January of this year, I interviewed Brian Patton of Soilent Green and Eyehategod. He was incredibly kind! If you haven't seen it, I encourage you to check it out!
[link: https://youtu.be/P_W6bD1QKm0 ]
Karen Roberta Stanley
Karen Roberta Stanley
If you’re a fan of Steely Dan, then you’re familiar with Walter Becker. If not, I’ll summarize briefly. Walter Becker was the second half to the duo that made up Steely Dan. Walter and Donald Fagen were the minds behind the music, the composer, the conductors, the two with the vision behind it all.