Goatwhore will release the new album “Angels Hung from the Arches of Heaven” on Oct. 7, 2022, via Metal Blade Records.
In advance of the album’s official unveiling this fall, Goatwhore has unleashed a video for first single, “Born of Satan’s Flesh,” directed by David Brodsky.
“Prepare yourself for an unabashed violent onslaught of Satanic unsoundness of mind!” guitarist/vocalist Sammy Duet said. “All hail his Luciferian force and might!”
Vocalist Louis Ben Falgoust II said: “Welcome to the manifested curse of our latest offering. During the past five years since our ‘Vengeful Ascension’ release, entwined with a state of isolation within that period, we have been communing with our inner abyss for inspiration. Idle time is truly the devil’s workshop. Feast your eyes (and ears) on this latest display of chaos, which is but a fragment of our impending full-length release out in October!”
Featuring ferocious beasts like the thrashing “Born of Satan’s Flesh,” the old-school, crossover-flavored “Death from Above” with its guttural chorus and a monolithic title track that is as haunting as it is heavy, the band–Falgoust, Duet, drummer Zack Simmons and bassist Robert “TA” Coleman (his first recorded output with the band)–covers a great deal of sonic terrain while retaining that signature, nefarious Goatwhore aura. With an overall tone described by Duet as “dark and evil” with a perpetual sentiment of “impending dread,” the record allows little light to cling to.
“I would describe this record as being very raw, but clarity is shaped within the chaos,” Falgoust said. “It’s a journey of everything we’ve done and some new approaches as we advance forward. When we write, we mainly focus on the music and what we enjoy about playing it. We don’t write just to appease others. We want to enjoy playing it in a live setting as well, especially night after night on the road.”
Lyrically, Falgoust draws from a wide array of influences. “Death from Above” is loosely based on the “Nachthexen,” or Night Witches, a group of female Soviet aviators in a bomber division deployed in 1942, a period during which women were in fact barred from combat. Then there’s the multifaceted title track, on which Falgoust ventures into an idea of emotional despondency within older texts and writings, feeling like several of these writings missed an element of human nature/emotion.
The title of the record–like all of the band’s releases–is both deep and direct.
“It’s a basis of human despondency, the arc of life, and its relationship with the personal abyss of overwhelming emotion and thought,” Falgoust said. “It’s a mixture of esoteric ideas and biblical scripts and the journey to the places some people care not to venture on mental paths … The rise and fall of the self and how the abyss can be a turning point for some and a passageway to oblivion for others. It’s blunt and to the point, just like countless aspects of life.”
Teaming up with producer Jarrett Pritchard (Exhumed, 1349) for a second time and tracking primarily at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana under pandemic restrictions, Goatwhore knew it was in good hands.
“He has a good vision of what we are doing and trying to present,” Falgoust said. “He tests you and forces the best performances out of you. Not in a bad way, just that he knows what each person could do prior to us entering the studio, so he has a level of expectation to push each one of us to our own individual performance levels.”
Additionally, the band recruited producer Kurt Ballou (Converge, High on Fire, Gatecreeper, Code Orange) to mix the record. “Kurt actually brought a lot to the table,” Duet said. “He had some opinions on a few of the song structures, which was a first for us because we never had an outside ear giving ideas. The sound of the record speaks for itself.”
Final mastering duties were handled by Grammy Award-winning engineer Ted Jensen (Ghost, Gojira, Cult of Luna).
The band also invested greater meaning in the visual components of the album through the use of sigils created by longtime collaborator Jordan Barlow. “We give him an idea and then he just goes with it,” Falgoust said. “We used sigils in the past with our name and other small details, but wanted to make this album more rooted in it. It adds a deeper aspect to our visual presentation. It creates interest and with that inspires questions. We want the listener to delve into this musical journey with us both by sound and vision.”
“Angels Hung from the Arches of Heaven” will be released on CD, digitally and LP in the following color variants:
- Smoke vinyl (US exclusive – clear w/ Black Smoke)
- Bloodshot vinyl (US exclusive – clear w/ Red Swirl)
- 180g Black vinyl (EU exclusive)
- Silver/Black Marbled vinyl (EU exclusive – limited to 300 copies)
- Blood Red/Black Marbled vinyl (EU exclusive – limited to 300 copies)
- White/Black Marbled vinyl (EU exclusive – limited to 300 copies)
Find pre-orders at http://metalblade.com/goatwhore.
“Angels Hung from the Arches of Heaven” track listing:
1. Invocation 3
2. Born of Satan’s Flesh
3. The Bestowal of Abomination
4. Angels Hung from the Arches of Heaven
5. Death from Above
6. Ruinous Liturgy
7. Victory Is the Lightning of Destruction
8. Voracious Blood Fixation
9. The Devil’s Warlords
10. Weight of a Soulless Heart
11. Nihil
12. And I Was Delivered from the Wound of Perdition
Goatwhore will begin its co-headlining run with Incantation next week. The “Vile Ascension” tour commences on Aug. 1 in Orlando, Florida, and runs through Aug. 27 in the band’s home city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Support will be provided by Bewitcher and Caveman Cult on select dates. Tickets are on sale now.
Goatwhore tour dates:
with Incantation, Bewitcher, Caveman Cult
8/01/2022 The Haven – Orlando, FL
8/02/2022 Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
8/03/2022 Blind Tiger – Greensboro, NC
8/04/2022 Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
8/05/2022 Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA
8/06/2022 Le Poisson Rouge – New York, NY
8/07/2022 Middle East – Boston, MA
8/08/2022 Lost Horizon – Syracuse, NY
8/09/2022 Crafthouse – Pittsburgh, PA
8/10/2022 Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH
8/11/2022 Reggie’s – Chicago, IL
8/12/2022 Granada Theater – Lawrence, KS
8/13/2022 Bluebird Theatre – Denver, CO
8/14/2022 Mesa Theater – Grand Junction, CO
with Incantation, Bewitcher
8/16/2022 El Corazon – Seattle, WA
8/17/2022 Bossanova Ballroom – Portland, OR
8/18/2022 Goldfield Trading Post – Sacramento, CA
8/19/2022 1720 – Los Angeles, CA
8/20/2022 Brick By Brick – San Diego, CA
8/21/2022 Nile Theater – Mesa, AZ
8/22/2022 Launchpad – Albuquerque, NM
8/24/2022 Trees – Dallas, TX
8/25/2022 Come And Take It Live – Austin, TX
8/26/2022 Warehouse Live – Houston, TX
8/27/2022 One Eyed Jacks – New Orleans, LA
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