Reaching the Truth

A year has passed, and the hype has finally subsided. I think now we can finally objectively assess the work that took the world by storm, without hyperbole, and from an objective perspective. 12 months after it changed the face of pop culture forever, the question is: Does Belphegor's Bondage Goat Zombie stand the test of time?

We all know the story by now, the media bombarded us with it for months. In April 2007, after months of thunderous buzz, Austrian Blackened Death Metallers Belphegor, who had been slaving away for months after their megahit Pestapokalypse VI, finally released their seventh album, Bondage Goat Zombie. The shock waves could be felt instantly. Not only was it a massive commercial hit, but the critics heaped praise on the album as well. While critical acclaim was nothing new to Belphegor, the album was hailed as being of higher caliber than even the band's revered classic Necrodemon Terrorsatan. The impact of Bondage Goat Zombie spread far and wide, with cultural commentators leaping at the chance to place the album in higher regard than their peers. Noted Israeli artist and theater critic Yoram Kaniuk, author of Adam Resurrected and winner of the 1999 Bialik Prize for significant accomplishments in Hebrew literature, praised Bondage Goat Zombie as "a work of transcendent beauty" and called it "the social document of our troubled times." "In our fragile short lives," he added, "in a world filled with chaos, one is lucky if they ever experience art on the magnitude of Bondage Goat Zombie. It understands what it is to be human; to love, to lose, to deal with the unspeakable apathy of society, even in the face of extreme suffering. Also, it rocked my face so hard I shit my pants."

Obviously, the album is good. There's no arguing that the band's poetry hasn't been this subtle and moving since Lucifer Incestus (has it really been 6 years since that masterpiece? I feel old) . You cannot help but get chills when the whispers of "drown me in your fuck" float down upon you at the end of "Der Rutenmarsh".

Pain - and suffer - beg for urine

Soak me in blood - deadfucked to pieces

Smear me - with the fruits - of perversity

Dethroned cunt - goddess of purity

Nymphomania - buttlust - anus breaths for more

This heartbreaking stanza from "Justine: Soaked In Blood" alone spurred constant discussion of the layers upon layers of meaning inherent in the ballad. I still get a tear in my eye when I see "Buttlust - Anus Breaths for More" bumper stickers.


And maybe that is a testament to the power of Bondage Goat Zombie. Despite the crass commercialization of the phenomenon by bootleggers, the lyrics still hold their mesmerizing qualities, able to speak to your very being with just a few perfectly chosen words. One should certainly not overlook the political implications of "Sexdictator Lucifer" nor the effect it had on galvanizing the people of nations into uprisings.

I must admit I was skeptical. I really expected for the album to have lost some of the luster after hearing each song on every radio station in constant rotation. But the truth of the matter is, Belphegor's Bondage Goat Zombie is truly that good. Every classic song remains just as incredible as when the disc was released, from the title track to "Shred For Satan." Not since the Magna Carta has there been a document as important to our society that also features face-melting solos.