Goatmoon – What Once Was… Shall Be Again (2023)

March 2, 2024

It’s hard to shake the feeling that over the last few years Goatmoon has more or less completely lost their original identity. Yes, obviously bands and artists change with time, but recent offerings such as this or Stella Polaris could literally be ANY dime a dozen black metal band but with BG’s vocals over the top of it. We’ve seen Goatmoon come a long way since Death Before Dishonour, but evolving into a homogeneous pulp of melodic black metal is not where I ever saw this band going. Alas, here we are. I feel like I’m listening to a nazified version of Dimmu Borgir or something.

Look, I’m clearly just a butthurt loser writing about music on the internet, so let it be known that the reality is that there are plenty of decent riffs and vocals on this thing, as well as the odd beautiful passage containing folk / traditional instruments which also mix so well with Goatmoon’s rabid metal. This might not be my favourite Goatmoon record, by a long shot, but I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who think this is brilliant. Is what it is, I guess.