Gorgoroth "Twilight of the Idols - In Conspiracy With Satan" CD
[Nuclear Blast]
Damn, it's been a long time since the last Gorgoroth record, and this thing sort of slipped out there without me knowing it. So as soon as I found out it had hit the streets I picked it up. Most of what I've read about this album thus far has been calling it a throwback to the "old days" of Gorgoroth, but that's not entirely true. Yes, it is absolutely more rugged and primal than "Incipit Satan" was. And yes, it's more in a classic black metal sort of style. But at the same time, this does not really sound like early Gorgoroth in my opinion. There's a hell of a lot more than that going on here. There's a lot of tempo variation, which fucking rules, and they're generally working with shorter, more direct songs. There's still some melody and experimentation with vocal styles in there (hints of singing and such), blended with tactful speeds and crazy distorted vocal screams (in the lower midrange, not a bunch of high sneering). "Proclaiming Mercy - Damaging Instinct of Man" is much slower and more plodding, while tracks like the incredible "Exit - Through Carved Stones" and "Teeth Grinding" are also much slower, but incorporate lots of dissonant melody and atmosphere. Very nice. "Blod og Minne" is one of the most traditional of the tracks, clocking in at three-and-a-half minutes with plenty of speed and aggression in classic black metal form, still throwing in some great midpaced rhythms to keep it fresh. The only thing I dislike about the disc is that the last few minutes in "Of Ice and Movement" are random noise textures and loops that lead into the brief instrumental closer, which is about a minute of fucking atrocious keyboards that sound like bad video game music. Unforgivable. Had they put it anywhere else on the record it could have been an immense problem, but now I just stop the disc before it even comes around. I find the recording to be really interesting. They've got a dry sort of fucked up distortion on the guitars (in a good way), the bass barely plods away behind the guitars and vocals, and the drums are cleaner but still low in the mix. In the end it's rather abrasive without being out of control or underproduced. It's pretty unique in my opinion. I fucking love the artwork on this thing. I don't know, the inner pages with the huge band photos and stuff aren't wonderful, but the cover art and the bleak grayish brown/green textures are fucking awesome, and something about the dull image of the burnt church on the cover is really interesting. I'd be curious to see the lyrics, but as usual they're not included. It probably doesn't matter since it would all be satanic junk, but... Good stuff. Longtime fans of the band should have no reason to be disappointed by this. I'm all for it. (7/10)
Running time - 32:35, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Exit - Through Carved Stones, Teeth Grinding, Blod og Minne]
Gorgoroth - http://www.gorgoroth.org

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