Carving Out The Eyes of God
[Album Review]
Before getting started, I have to preface by saying that this is simply my own opinion.
“Carving Out The Eyes of God” came out in 2009, and was Goatwhore’s 4th album. Their 2nd album with Metalblade, and their 2nd album produced by Erik Rutan.
I’m going to get straight to the point. I find this one to be Goatwhore’s weakest album, in their catalogue. It’s not bad, but for some reason, I just cannot find myself as interested in this album, like I have with all the others. Strangely enough, I find something very boring about it, but I don’t know why. Lyrically and instrumentally, it’s good. I suspect, for me, it has to do deal with the production of the album that I don’t like.
When I listen to the previous three Goatwhore albums, there seems to be this distinct medieval esoteric element to the music. While these elements are seen lyrically, artistically, even instrumentally to me, Carving seems to be missing that. While this is the 2nd album produced by Erik Rutan, it has a notably different sound from the previous album, “A Haunting Curse:.
[[GOUTWHORE]]
While Goatwhore is just loud in general, especially if you see them live, Carving is just LOUD to me in general. Many of Goatwhore’s albums start immediately, like a punch in the face. Carving, A Haunting Curse, Blood For The Master, and Constricting Rage For The Merciless are all like this.
Carving is a lot more “Power Metal” oriented to me. The guitars are loud, thrashy, and you see Benjamin’s vocal start start to adapt into what I call his “Medieval Krampus” style, and what ended up becoming a departure from the “clean spoken” type vocals from the first 2 albums. The, “Black Metal Moans of Despair” are completely gone bu this album, and do not re-emerge in their later releases, at least, in their discography up through 2022. The closest to this would be the song, “To Mourn and Forever Wander Through Forgotten Doorways”. To me, that sounds more like Krampus walking to himself though, than the type of “cleaner” vocals seen on the first 2 albums. That said, I like the song, and it’s one of my favorites from the album.
Speaking of favorite songs, there’s a few that really stick out to me on this album.
“Provoking The Ritual of Death” is really good to me, because of the way Sammy pulls on those strings at times. He’s got that kundalini, where he can make a riff so tantalizing, and dare I say, sexy. It’s something that I wished he did more on Goatwhore albums. This same sound is why I love the song, “Silence Marked By The Breaking of Bone” from the previous album, and why I love “Sonic Excess” album by Crowbar. He just knows how to bend those strings.
“In Legions, I Am Wars of Death” is another favorite, as the song gets really good when it gets to the part where Sammy screams “Rise”. It sounds so evil, and like they were summoning a storm for Leviathan. The way Sammy plays is like the rain that pours down violently at night, during a particularly violent torrent. This is a style that I find very definitive of this time period for him in general, something very prominent from the albums produced during the Rutan years.
“Shadow Of a Rising Knife” is the one that stuck out to me the most. It has a cadence lyrically, like that of A Haunting Curse, and the guitar riffs are very fun and punky. It gets heavier and more death metally, and I really enjoy the solos!
Other songs I liked were, “The All Destroying” and “Carving Out The Eyes of God”. I like “Apocalyptic Havoc”too, though that one is a given, since they tend to play that song live, and it’s a fun song to listen to live.
The more I listened to the album, the more I realized why I, personally, didn’t care for it that much. In a very strange way, “Carving Out The Eyes of God” is too modern for me. The way it’s produced is definitely an album that has “Rutan’s Curse” on it. Even though I know that Erik Rutan is a cool guy and talented musician, I just don’t like the way he produces albums. His most popular band to have produced for is, of course, Cannibal Corpse. Listen to other albums produced by Rutan from that era: KILL, Evisceration Plague. They have this same problem. While technically, it’s good, everything is modernized and put together on a computer at the end of the day, it somehow has its authenticity stripped from it. A lot of Rutan’s resume consists of creating walls of sound, that results in this “sterile” end production. I know that this will make people mad, but that’s how it comes off to me. Having seen Goatwhore live multiple times, I’ve really come to know their performances are like. They always put on a good show, and many songs sound better live, than what was recorded in the studio.
“Carving Out The Eyes Of God” isn’t a bad album, but I think it suffers greatly from how it was mastered or produced. You mainly hear Ben’s vocals and Sam’s guitars. Zack’s drums came third to me, and finally, I barely hear Nathan’s bass. Personally, I liked Nathan’s bass playing, greatly enjoying him on the previous album, “A Haunting Curse”. I’m not sure why his bass is put in the background on this album, along with Zack. To me, all parts of a band are equal. They are the “sum of their own parts”, to quote Johnny Kelly. I find it especially odd, considering how Sam and Zack have a playing style that really bounces off of each other, even more notable live. I just shake my head at whoever made those mixing decision on this album. To me, it was like Goatwhore was put into someone’s formula and they had more say, than the own band members of the album.
I bought the album on bandcamp, which allows for lossless versions of the album to be downloaded. I listen to almost all of my music in .flac, a lossless format that allows audio to be heard in a way that isn’t horrifically compressed. I think that, because of this, I really hear how loud Sammy’s guitars are, over the other members. I know that many people think of guitars first with Metal music, but I just find the way this is done, to be in a strange way. It would have been really nice to hear the bass on this album, is all I’m saying.
Overall, this is a decent album. A good metal album you’d probably expect, as a metal album should sound. But to me, it’s lacking in what makes something a phenomenal Goatwhore album. I suppose that I know, in hindsight, how talented these musicians can be. I suppose, in my eyes, I know how good this could be. I know how hard working, talented, dedicated, and determined Benjamin and Sammy are, especially.
I wish that this album would have been heaver. I wish that it was more estoteric like the ones before it. But I don’t hold it against them or anything.
If anything, “Carving Out The Eyes of God” is a stepping stone for Goatwhore. Another chapter in the book that had to be written, in order to further themselves in the next chapter of their books.
And it seems that the next chapter in their lives, was an exciting one, overall/
-Mariah
[Originally written 6/22/2025]
