siLLy puPPy One of black metal’s purest forms of primeval rage appeared on GORGOROTH’s third album UNDER THE SIGN OF HELL right smack dab in the middle of the 90s demented era of the second wave black metal frenzy. While clearly inspired by the likes of Darkthrone and other Norwegian church burning miscreants (hmmm… i wonder who THAT could be :?), this short but slightly over thirty minute long outburst of pure eeeee-vile kvlt freneticism drops its sonic intensity upon the listener like a bomb on Hiroshima razing all to the ground and leaving anyone still breathing only to fester in torturous anguish following its radioactive wake.

While not stylistically different from the first two GORGOROTH albums, something shifted here. Inferno, Pest and Grim somehow created the perfect triumvirat of black metal angst with pummeling distorted guitar and bass riffs in tandem with some of Pest’s angriest and most ferocious vocals to appear on any GROGOROTH album accompanied by the frenetic blast beat fury of Grim at breakneck speed. Likewise the compositions are more diverse than ever with not only the expected frenetic energy infused headache music but include elements of black’n’roll, Scandinavian folk (even clean lyrics like Enslaved would utilize to full effect) and even dreadfully dark ambient segments.

The short nine track album is punctuated in the middle with great success by a bizarre and utterly deranged delivery of pure eeee-vile with the backmasking rich collage of sounds on “Postludium” which exhibits the anguished and tortured sounds of hell with moans, groans, indecipherable pleas with sonic swirls of sound in the firestorm pits before once again revisiting the frenetic distorted apocalyptic visions of the world of black metal drenched in the muck and murk of lo-fi bleakness.

“Ødeleggelse og Undergang” displays the band’s stylistic explorations as it treads doom laden sonicscapes interspersed with thrash riff attacks that employ ample melodic chord change shifts rather than relying simply on aggression alone which BTW remains on full display during this is fury is frenetically unleashed. Despite lasting a mere 32 minutes and 53 seconds, UNDER THE SIGN OF HELL is a frighteningly complete listening experience bringing the listener to the brink of what they can tolerate as the album exploits every fear factor of grimness and is one of the few black metal albums that effortlessly succeeds in descending me to the underworld and leave me feel suffocated while i’m experiencing it.

I’m a huge fan of GORGORTH on all their journeys of changing it up over the years, but they hit a high note (or should i say satisfying low one) on UNDER THE SIGN OF HELL where they delivered on all the beastly best of what makes a hardcore black metal album so utterly satisfying without an iota of compromise and no fucks given about the consequences. Lo-fi beastly fun for the whole family. Well, the Adam’s Family that is! Oh, and forget about that nonsensical 2011 re-recording of demonic excrement. There never has been a need to re-record this because it’s perfect as it is. True kvlt black metal is SUPPOSED to have warts rolled around in goat feces. WTF were they thinking?

siLLy puPPy The cast of GORGOROTH has been ever changing with only founder and guitarist Infernus appearing on every album. On the second album ANTICHRIST (originally titled “Død” meaning dead) Infernus picks up the bass as well as Samoth departed to play with Satyricon amongst others. The mysterious Goat Pervertor was replaced by Frost on drums and Hat only appeared on three tracks for vocals whereas Pest appeared on “Possessed (By Satan).” The remaining three tracks were instrumentals including the opening intro “En Stram Lukt Av Kristent Blod” (A Rank Smell Of Christian Blood) which is nothing more than noises made by some beast and ambient sounds.

Just from that title alone you can tell that the subject matter is pretty much the same as “Pentagram” with Satanic symbolism and lyrics usurping the Christian landscape in order to unfurl the flag of Lucifer full staff. Musically however ANTICHRIST sounds a bit different. True all the second wave black metal hallmarks are on board with the cacophonous din of buzz saw guitars, tremolo picking and full fury bass and drum assaults however the songs aren’t as aggressive at every possible second with “Wind” having some secondary Scandinavian clean folk vocals over the black metal screams of anguish. Neither vocalist has the pissed-off cat sound on this one. Both Hat and Pest have the classic raspy Darkthrone style of semi-screamed / semi-growled vocal style. Also this album is even shorter than the first barely clocking in over the 25 minute mark.

ANTICHRIST once again proves that GORGOROTH were the real deal following in the footsteps of Mayhem and Darkthrone and were displaying their full allegiance to the dark and Satanic underground of the black metal movement in full force during the mid-90s. While not substantial different than their previous album or their influences, there are subtle differences that emerge from the din. The song structures are less straight forward and dynamic shifts occur more frequently on ANTICHRIST but all in all a standard orthodox example of second wave black metal that is utterly uncompromising in any possible way.

The one exception would be the closing “Sorg” which demonstrates a completely new side to GORGOROTH’s sound. It begins with a rain storm and the tintinnabulation of church bells and slows down the tempo to doom metal turf only it still sounds evil as fuck with the black metal guitar tones and raspy shouted vocals. It also has the clean folk Gregorian chant type vocals to back it up. Just enough to add to the GORGOROTH resume on ANTICHRIST to separate them even further from the pack.

siLLy puPPy Bursting out like a volcanic eruption in the early era of Norwegian second wave black metal, GORGOROTH, named after the dead plateau of darkness in the land of Mordor in The Lord Of The Rings, dropped their first full length bomb on an unsuspecting world after two blasphemous demos. The band was founded by guitarist Infernus who has been the only constant member in the band’s career as band members came and went. The debut release PENTAGRAM is the only album to feature Samoth on bass and that ghoulish underlord Goat Pervertor on drums, however vocalist Hat would stick around for one more album.

GORGOROTH takes the approach of Darkthrone’s lead and deliver a caustic assault of the senses with the classic black metal wall of sound complete with the cacophony of buzz saw guitar riffs, aggressive song structures and Hat’s classic pissed-off cat vocal style reminiscent of early Moonsorrow in their black metal years. Although he’s screaming his lungs out, the vocals are actually quite subdued in the mix as he angrily tries to out perform the metal raucous but only barely manages to pierce through. The album is actually quite short clocking in at under thirty minutes but more than makes up for it in intensity as it doesn’t let up for a second.

PENTRAGRAM will never be remembered as being the most original black metal album to come out in the second wave era but it certainly has enough punk infused attitude and addictive tracks to claw it’s way up towards the top of the attention getting pile of the era for not only do they capture the “purist’s” style of second wave black metal but were famous for following in the footsteps of fellow Norwegians Mayhem with their hatred for Christianity and their Satanic symbolism and onstage performances. While Infernus would add more experimental elements on future albums, on this one they perform a type of black metal that is about as kvlt and orthodox as you can get. Despite it though, i actually prefer hearing their version of Darkthrone to Darkthrone themselves!

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.

Warthur The followup to Twilight of the Idols finds the dominance of Gaahl and King ov Hell over the band almost complete, with the duo writing all of the music and lyrics. And since on Twilight the only music written by Infernus was the 50 second outro track, this is pretty much the second Gorgoroth album in a row where Gaahl and King have been the primary creative forces in the band, in stark contrast to the band's career from their debut to Incipit Satan. Scholars of black metal history may be interested in it because it's the best indication we have of what the short-lived God Seed project might have sounded like - or, indeed, what Gorgoroth itself might have continued to sound like had Gaahl and King ov Hell succeeded in stealing the band from Infernus. Those who simply like primitive, angry black metal will find it an entertaining listen up to Gorgoroth's usual standards.