Tag Archives: San Antonio

Goatcraft – Mephistophelian Exordium (2020), Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (2021)

Posted by valleyofsteel on

Once upon a time; many, many years ago, there was a kid named Lonegoat who lived in the land of Florida. And as was tradition for Floridian young people around that time, he played in death metal bands. He showed a real talent for playing the piano and keyboards and, in the words of one former bandmate, “brought a much more classical piano sound to the band rather than someone playing chords and some strange sounds here and there […] and it made all of us in the band have to step up our level of playing to a more classical orchestral sound.”

Well, as is often the case, this kid grew up and went on to do grown-up things like serving in the US Air Force for a while. But after coming back and relocating to Texas, Lonegoat struck out as a solo pianist — calling the new musical venture Goatcraft. A few years back, I wrote about Goatcraft‘s 2013 and 2016 albums.

But before that, in 2011 he had put together a CDR demo to hand out at shows. Here we’ll discuss Mephistophelian Exordium which collects those demo recordings and made them available to the broader public for the first time ever, just a little over a year ago. While we’re here, we’ll also take a look at brand-new album Sic Transit Gloria Mundi, and in the process treat our ears to a full decade worth of “Necroclassical” music.

 

Goatcraft – Mephistophelian Exordium (Hessian Firm, 20 November 2020)

 

Goatcraft – Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (I, Voidhanger Records, 26 November 2021)

 

Continue reading →

Goatcraft – All for Naught (2013), Yersinia Pestis (2016)

Posted by valleyofsteel on

Cover Art

Goatcraft – All for Naught (Forbidden Records, 20 March 2013)

 

IVR060 - GOATCRAFT - Yersinia Pestis

Goatcraft – Yersinia Pestis (I, Voidhanger Records, 15 July 2016)

 

The past few days, we’ve talked about a few different musical groups; while a few of them might be tangentially associated with some form of metal bands, generally these have all been of the non-metal variety, using traditional folk, classical, orchestral, baroque, or chamber ensemble instrumentations, and playing compositions that would be classified as neoclassical or neofolk. Today we close out the week by taking a look at a solo musician from San Antonio, who goes by the same Lonegoat, as the sole member of Goatcraft, whose piano-and-keyboard-only creations have prompted him to coin the term “necroclassical.”

 

Continue reading →

Out Tomorrow: Kruds/Rampant Decay – Split 7″

Posted by valleyofsteel on

Kruds/Rampant Decay – Split 7″ (3 February 2012, PATAC Records)

Particularly observant readers may have noticed a slight change to the layout of the blog this week.  For those of you who read the mobile version, or get updates by email or RSS, or those who have just discovered the Valley, I’ll give you a hint.  For the first time ever in the extensive (coming up on four months soon!) history of the VoS, I’ve added an advertisement to the sidebar of the page.  Now, before you all panic, or start writing me scathing emails about how I’ve sold out or whatever, let me explain.  First of all, in order to sell out, I’m pretty sure technically you have to be making some money — and I hardly have the volume of traffic where that would be very plausible.  No, I’ve basically just put in a link to PATAC Records because it’s good to support small, independant companies, and in particular I have a lot of respect for their business model.  Essentially, it works like this: all of their releases are available for you to listen to or download for free (or for whatever price you think they are worth), and when you find something you really like, you can buy it on CD or vinyl (or grab one of the bands’ t-shirts or whatever).  Simple, but effective.

So anyway, the point of all of this is basically just to introduce the new release I am listening to today.  This 9-minute, 6-track split between Kruds of San Antonio, TX, and Rampant Decay from Providence, RI, has been available for streaming or downloading since 17 August 2011, but PATAC has announced that it will be available to purchase on 7″ record starting tomorrow (3 February 2012).  See below for how to grab the free download, but this one’s already worth the purchase price of the physical copy just for that awesome cover art of a hippie getting scalped by a machete, amirite??

Continue reading →