07/05/2025
Last week, on the 25th of June, was 1 year since Virrughus Apocali , Fernando Barg, died. Goatpen*s will always be True War Metal- and they actually described themselves as war metal. And thematically they are , through and through. (Aside from demos) . It seems there are people now who like to throw the term war metal around, when the bands don’t even consider themselves as such. But regardless, Goatpen*s is the supreme war metal band.
I know I was a lot more outspoken about Sabbaoth’s death in 2021, maybe because he was a bassist and front person like me too, so I tended to connect to him more. His death shook me. And because I felt inspired for the first time to do a cover as tribute, and it sort of snowballed into a whole release when KS wanted to cover a different one, which lead to both bands covering and me asking others. I was also somewhat more active on here then, too. Last year was just fu**ed. Anyway, it does not at all mean that Fernando’s death wasn’t impactful to me, and that he isn’t considered with the reverence he deserves.
His contribution to extreme metal is powerful. Goatpen*s is brilliant. Virrughus Apocali will forever be alive in his riffs and compositions. They do not spoil with time. To be able to sound that extreme and still that catchy is really something else, hah. One of the top extreme bands of all time.
Hail Virrughus Apocali, rest in power.
