Biography

Goatlord began in 1985 although they did not release their first demo until June 1987. Their initial offering was a mixture of sludge

Sludge metal

Sludge metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that melds elements of doom metal and hardcore punk, and sometimes incorporates influences from southern rock, stoner rock and grunge. Sludge metal is typically abrasive; often featuring shouted vocals, heavily distorted instruments and sharply contrasting...

 and death metal only titled 1987 Demo. A cult following grew and tape-traders re-named this first demo as Forever Black Dwell in Hell, a line take from the song "Unholy Black Slut". Their second demo, Sodomize the Goat was a much deeper look into the Goatlord depravity and metallic sound. Goatlord began to change their musical style into a slower and more convincing mode of metal sound and continued to record only one more demo in 1991 before tensions grew about the band's progression. The majority of the members wanted to go towards a slower, more droning approach and the debate continued until vocalist Ace Stills ventured off with his own band Doom Snake Cult.

Goatlord's received a recording contract with Turbo Records and with their remaining members, began to work on their first full-length record without Ace. They had hired Mitch Harris

Mitch Harris

Mitch Harris is an American guitarist, born in New York then moving to Las Vegas, currently living in Birmingham, England. He started his career in the Grindcore band Righteous Pigs. He did a side project with Mick Harris - then the drummer of grindcore band Napalm Death, called Defecation...

 of Napalm Death

Napalm Death

Napalm Death are a death metal band formed in Birmingham, England in 1981. While none of its original members remain in the group, the lineup of vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway, bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris and drummer Danny Herrera has remained consistent for most of the band's ...

 as their replacement vocalist. The entire album was recorded with Mitch as the vocalist and only a few last-minute adjustments needed to be compiled before mastering. At this time Ace returned and asked to rejoin the fledgling band. The remaining members conceded and briefly re-united. It was unknown to the band that when Ace laid down his vocal tracks for the album, he recorded over Mitch's vocal tracks, destroying them. There weren't any other versions of Mitch's vocals and those tracks are lost forever. While Mitch's vocals did not appear on that album his contributions to back-up vocals did make it on the Reflections of the Solstice album.

In 2007 Nuclear War Now Productions released their CD The Last Sodomy of Mary. This album contains 9 songs that were recorded after Reflections of the Solstice but were unreleased until now. The die-hard LP version comes with a second vinyl with 7 additional tracks of unreleased/live/cover material.

Tensions ensued between the band members which led to Goatlord's dissolution in 1997. Former guitarist Joe Frankulin currently administrates the shock website Bloodshows.com. Jeff Nardone is currently in death metal band Spun in Darkness formed in 2006.

Albums (studio)

• 1991: Reflections of the Solstice
  Reflections of the Solstice
  Reflections of the Solstice was a debut album by American Death/Black/Doom - metal band Goatlord, released September 13, 1991 on Turbo Music. The cover art of the album is made by Chris Moyen.-Track listing:# "Blood Monk" – 5:53# "Distorted Birth" – 6:58...
  
  
• 1992: Goatlord
• 2007: The Last Sodomy of Mary

Current members

• Jeff Schwob - bass, (1986–1997)
• Joe Frankulin - guitars (1986–1997)
• Jeff Nardone - drums (1986–1997)
• Chris Gans - vocals (1991–1997)

External links

* The official Goatlord site

• Nuclear War Now Productions