Review by Fran on June 15, 2021.

Considering this album was written, played and recorded by two kids from Costa Rica you have to admit the result is pretty impressive. Black/thrash with hints of d-beat and lots of balls. Songs are simple in terms of technicality but the raw energy from the 80s is definitely there. Anthony Umaña was in charge of recording the album -that sounds amazing for a home studio output- and the guitars and drums. Christo Vega pulled out vocal and bass guitar duties.

Goat Rider’s lyrical concept and imagery deals with Japanese culture. Ironically or not, the goat riding a motorcycle with the imperial flag looks so cool on the cover! The punky drumming is fairly simple too but the upbeat tempo of the songs has a lot of drive, some basic snare breaks are occasionally thrown in to mark the changes in riffing every 4 bars… you could say there’s some Mötörhead influence there. The riffing is a little bit more obscure, styled like Mantas’s from Venom but still with some shades of traditional R’n’R (black and roll?) Bass guitar is heavily distorted and usually just accompains the guitar, there’s no need for anything else really.

Vocals on the other hand are completely mean, high pitched black metal shrieks that resemble early Bathory’s work. In terms of production the mix of the album is kind of dry, there’s a little reverb on the guitar tone but everything sounds legible all the time. If you’re into the aforementioned bands there’s no chance you won’t like this. Generation Z is commonly labeled as a crystal generation, it's very pleasing to me that there are still teen metal maniacs keeping the flame alive with such good taste and songwriting abilities. Give this record a listen and buy it if you like it.

Rating: 8.6 out of 10