Finnish death/black butchers Archgoat have been highly prolific since reactivating in 2004. Their latest is fourth full-length The Luciferian Crown and today Decibel has a premiere on the title track, plus some words from main man Ritual Butcherer. Stylistically, “The Luciferian Crown (Venom of God)” follows their 2017 EP Eternal Damnation of Christ, driven by blast beats, gurgling vocals and a slower, murkier section.
“My philosophy in songwriting is that when playing with different tempos and the sum of its parts is much more than the sum would be,” Ritual Butcherer tells Decibel. “This works sspecially when using fast and slow song parts sequentially. The fast parts make the slow parts sound even slower and heavier and the slow the fats one faster and more aggressive.
“I wrote this song as the 2nd [to] last song of the whole album. I had composed the opener riff earlier in 2017 but it took me almost one year the get the idea clear and forwards. The song opens with quite minimalistic riff accompanied by this primal simultaneous snare kick drumming. After only 4 repetitions the second part with the vocals, full tremolo guitar and alternating drumming kicks in to return to first part equally fast. There is a dialogue between the two parts and with the short repetitions I wanted to make it dynamic and changing in fast pace. With the third riff and the leading guitar part I wanted to completely change the environment from the dynamic to more static prelude before the slow part starts. We tried various ways how to fluidly start the slow doomish part and ended up with a tom drumming start and the bass kind of creeping in behind before all the instruments blast on and it starts. For the slow part the song turns into a Black Mass like atmosphere where the down tuning really brings the punch and the heaviness to the song. I think this could be considered as a classical Archgoat part of a song which ends abruptly in short guitar lead back to full speed and the dynamics of the first part of the song.
“With the song being as aggressive and dynamic I wanted the lyrics to represent the same and what would be a better theme than the eternal battle for the souls.
“The lyrics of this song are praise to Samael – The Angel of Death and Temptation – who rode on the Serpent and tempted the Man to eat the apple from the Tree of Knowledge. Christians say that He takes the souls of Man but He is liberating the souls of Man and removing the covering blindfold from our eyes. This Tree of Knowledge is inside us all and it depends on us – not on anybody else – whether we will understand the hidden potential of the free will. How metaphorically find the Tree, water it, eat the fruits it contains and start the Promethean climb towards the greater Wisdom. The sacrificing of your former self to take the Symbol of Light – The Symbol of Lucifer – in your Mind, Flesh and Blood and to follow this Path.
“I think we achieved what we wanted on this song to create something what can be branded as Archgoat song.”
Order the album here.
