MILKING THE GOAT MACHINE

The press blurb states "hailing from the planet GoatEborg where all creatures happen to have a goatlike behaviour and/or appearance, Milking the Goatmachine were founded in 2008 by Goatfreed and Goatleeb Udder." It goes on to explain that they came down to our planet with the intention of spreading the word of "Goatgrind". Okay. It is perhaps hard to take such a band seriously with such an absurd statement but maybe that is their precise intention? Not so. At least not to any great extent. Listening to the actual music, I can hear little of the humour, parody or craziness one would expect from reading their 'motives' apart from a scattering of vocalised goat noises during certain passages and between-song goat-themed sound-bites. Fair enough, goat references are rife throughout the lyrics and song titles, ranging from the mildly amusing Sacred Reich pastiche ('Surf Goataragua') to the outright inane ('Goats Got No Clits'), but the actual music is fairly run-of-the-mill death/grindcore. Although it's adeptly performed, 'Back From The Goats' offers little original or innovative to the genre. I can't help but think Milking the Goatmachine have missed an opportunity here. Had they injected their formulaic approach to song writing with more random wackiness, then the emphatic and ubiquitous goat references might have actually held some relevance in the context of their aesthetic, but strip away the horned mammals and you're left with pretty generic music. And "Goatgrind"?! I'm sure Milking the Goatmachine will forever remain in a subgenre all by themselves. And that's not a good thing.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Anstalt Records

Album

BACK FROM THE GOATS

Review by Mark Holmes

RUNNING TIME:

36:38

RELEASE DATE:

2nd Nov 2009

TRACK LISTING

1) March Into Shed; 2) A Tale of Slaughtering
3) Surf Goataragua; 4) Sour Milk Boogie
5) Goats Got No Clits
6) Rise of the Wise Goat
7) Bingo Bongo...
8) Eaten Blessed Scum; 9) Goat Thrower
10) Feed the Goat
11) Wasting Away
12) The Last Unigoat; 13) Born, Lost and Captured
14) Back from the Goats

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Germany

"Had they injected their formulaic approach to song writing with more random wackiness, then the emphatic and ubiquitous goat references might have actually held some relevance in the context of their aesthetic..."