Warthur Pest returns to the vocal spot and Infernus once again becomes the band's primary composer as Gorgoroth emerges from the devastating feud between Infernus on the one hand and King ov Hell and Gaahl on the other. It's not an earthshakingly original album or a major departure from Gorgorth's usual style, but then again it didn't have to be; what was called for at the time was simply an album which proved that Gorgoroth could still raise a black metal cacophony and spit evil lyrics at the listener. This it does; as usual, the lyrics are extremely difficult and sometimes impossible to decipher, but the song titles at least seem to suggest a response to the Gaahl/King ov Hell-led era of Gorgoroth ("Building a Man" has to be some kind of take on "Carving a Giant", right?"); either way, all that really matters with Gorgoroth is that they sound furious and they certainly are that here.

Vehemency While I did enjoy Gaahl’s vocals quite much actually, it was interesting to see how the band’s original vocalist, Pest, does his job now that it’s been over ten years since his last appearance on a Gorgoroth album. So, in a way, Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt could fit to the ”comeback black metal” category that seems to florish lately, but luckily the album isn’t bad at all.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Gorgoroth, but an objective listening of Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt tells that the material is inspired and powerful. As usual for Gorgoroth, the album spins just for 34 minutes, being a coherent package of both fast and slow (”Rebirth” for example) black metal. Pest’s screams are identifiable even after 10 years, now with even more malicious sound. The music is somewhat technical and I find some of the sudden 'progressive’ stops in the music a bit harassing. Luckily such moments don’t appear too often, because it would have killed the flow of the songs.

I do rant about the production of the drums, surprise surprise. I just can’t understand why so often they are produced to sound as plastic as possible. Okay, they’re not at their worst on this album, but still. More earthly production would give this album filthier and more breathing atmosphere. After all, aren’t we listening to a black metal album, not the latest and trendiest car radio fitting MTV metal?

Enough with the usual production rant, Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt provides surprisingly good compositions that are played tightly and carefully. Highlights include the epic ending of ”New Breed” and the last song ”Satan-Prometheus” that introduces clean chant-like vocals. One interesting thing is that a Gorgoroth album sounds always really... malignant. Somehow they have carried that same element (or quintessence?) throughout their career, and this album is no different. I don’t know is it only in my head but at least it keeps me still following the band's outputs.