Review Summary: The devil burns cold.
On the surface, Gorgoroth can seem like a gimmick band. They're a Norwegian black metal band named after the most evil land in
The Lord of the Rings with stage names like Infernus and Pest, use overtly satanic lyrics, perform in black and white face paint, and the like. But the truth is, Gorgoroth authenticate the entire scene. The band fully commits to their alter egos to the point that you wonder if they’re alter egos in the first place. The music sounds like it came straight from the bowels of Mordor during a blizzard – ice cold and fervently dark. Gorgoroth embrace their stereotypes and pull them off with enough conviction to embody what the Norwegian black metal scene is all about.
Not much has changed since their debut
Pentagram. The production is slightly crisper, the vocals are more dynamic (Hat and Pest split vocal duties this time), and the vaguely thrashy overtones are all but gone.
Antichrist is pure unadulterated black metal. It flows seamlessly from beginning to end as a single 25-minute piece of music. Tracks like ‘Gorgoroth’ and ‘Heavens Fall’ highlight melodic progressions over blast beat laden tapestry, while ‘Possessed (by Satan)’ utilizes offbeat drum patterns to accentuate its unnerving atmosphere. Clean vocals rear their head in a couple tracks, namely the closer ‘Sorg’, which sounds like unsettlingly accurate droning ambiance from an occult monastery.
What separates Gorgoroth from the crowd is that they aren’t just putting on a show. They believe in what they do wholeheartedly. They’re playing “evil” in its aural form; it's their
passion. And because they believe it, we believe it, and can willfully relish in the darkness alongside them.
