Goatpenis: Inhumanization (2004)

Some time ago I reviewed a live album by Goatpenis, and I will decline to make fun of their name this time around.  I have always felt that live albums were not really the best introductions to bands, because there is often a fairly significant difference between how a band sounds live and how they sound in a recording studio.  In this case, there were a couple of issues that I had with the production in particular.  As it turns out, that live album was pretty damn close to how Goatpenis sounds in a recording studio.  Weird.

This is the Brazilian band's first full-length album and it is every bit as raw and violent as I would have expected based on the live recording.  The album kicks off with a message dealing with the first experiment with a hydrogen bomb.  From there we are off and running.  The songs are full of unbridled aggression with rampaging riffs and pounding drums.  Everything is furious and savage, with no time for such trivial things as melody and subtlety. 

Oddly, some of the issues that I had that I thought were just production issues on the live release are present here as well.  For one, the bass is really buried in the mix.  There is very little bottom end at all.  Secondly, the vocals still have kind of a weird muffled echo sound to them.  They take a little getting used to.  The final issue with the release is one that was not present on the live action, and that is the over-reliance on samples prior to the songs.  Each song starts off with a sample from what sounds mostly like war movies.  Each of these samples lasts far longer than one would expect and it kind of kills any momentum the band is building.  It makes it kind of difficult to really get into the album.

I was surprised at just how much this release sounds like the live recording.  I am still trying to decide how I really feel about this band.  I like the albums I have heard from them, but I still find myself somewhat disappointed.