MYSTIFIER (Brazil) - Göetia 2XLP (2021 NWN! Re-issue on Double Gold Nugget gatefold vinyl w/A2 sized poster - limited to only 100 copies) Taking cues from the raw and abrasive Blackened Death Metal of Canada's BLASPHEMY, early releases from Finland's BEHERIT or Brazilian neighbors Sarcófago, MYSTIFIER released a string of demos and debut album "Wicca" before assembling their occult-weird-out gem "Göetia" in the summer of 1993. This album took the #91 position on Decibel Magazine's Top 100 Black Metal Albums of All Time list.
Blissfully eccentric and strange, Göetia smeared the band's Blackened Death Metal roots with creeping slow passages, mystical keyboards and an overall occult vibe closer to contemporaries in Greece (early ROTTING CHRIST) or Italy (MORTUARY DRAPE) than any band they may have shared a stage with in Brazil.
With new vocalist Arnaldo Asmodeus at the helm, the song titles and lyrics get weirder than ever. While Brazilian neighbors Sarcófago, Vulcano or Sepultura were shouting about all manner of vomit, sex, graves or booze, MYSTIFIER were off on their own hallucinated, drug-addled medieval European tangent with tracks like  "The Baphometic Goat of Knights Templar in the 12th Century" or the phaser-soaked vocal stunner "The True Story About the Doctor Faust's Pact with Mephistopheles." 
Göetia (which saw near-simultaneous release alongside sophomore recordings from labelmates, ROTTING CHRIST, IMMORTAL and BLASPHEMY in mid-1993) is yet another example of compelling and enduring Black Metal from Osmose's early '90's heyday. **album review originally published in Decibel Magazine; written by Scott Koerber**  Nuclear War Now! Productions – Anti-Goth 545