GOLGATHA TALES OF TRANSGRESSION & SACRIFICE ALBUM COLD MEAT INDUSTRY RELEASE: OCTOBER 20, 2007 REVIEW: NOVEMBER 19, 2007

On previous albums from German “ritual-folk-band” Golgatha, the main theme has been heroism; but now they have created their third album with inspiration from French philosopher Georges Bataille and his thoughts on transgression and sacrifice. The result is a quite varied album, with a nice blend of styles. We have tunes focusing on drums in a slow, dreamy and almost hypnotic tempo; listening to this while flickering through the very nice booklet it’s easy to let your mind wander away. The booklet is by the way included in a DVD digipak with beautiful photography by Birthe Klementowski that really adds to the listening experience.

Sometimes the album changes style and takes on a more classic folk style, with catchy melodies. I especially liked “Flesh of the Orchid (v.II)” that could become something of a hit with better vocals. I personally think that the songs on the album works best with the female vocals from Sorakey like on the track “Garden of Love (v.II)”. This is the first album since she joined the band and I hope that we hear more focus on her vocals in the future as these are strong and suits this band perfectly.

What I liked on this album is that Golgatha are capable of mixing the acoustic instruments with an electronic sound; I’ve heard far too many “folk-synth” bands that just want to take these two styles and combine them without any feeling on how these sounds should blend together.

Golgatha does this very nice and gives me new hope for a genre that I had almost lost hope in.

TOBIAS ELIASSON