Gorgoroth - Pentagram

Some Personal Thoughts

I'm just simply not a fan of technical or progressive music. I just can't help but feel that it's all pretentious. Every type of music has it's market. And I suspect that progressive market caters towards people that want to feel smart or enlightened for listening to music that's technical or progressive. They enjoy flattering themselves for being open-minded, deep-thinking, and totally knowledgeable about stuff. Totally radical, dude. I'm not impressed by  people's musical taste. There's no reason to believe that Motorhead fans are any less intelligent than Dream Theater fans. I enjoy listening to Motorhead. I generally avoid Dream Theater.

Gorgoroth, and particularly this album, is not the type of band that will flatter your sense of open-mindedness. Lyrics are not provided, but the song titles give away what the topics are about. None of them are going to make you feel more enlightened. There are no odd-timed signatures, polyrhythms, experimentation, epic 10 minute songs, or forays into other genres. They don't even play their instruments very well. They kind of just bang on them for about half an hour then leave.

There's no technicality, no progressiveness, and no deep-thinking. There's also no political statements or declarations of war against posers or anything else. To put it simply: listening to this album is not going to make you feel better than anyone else for any reason. Hell, it may very well make you less intelligent. Then why is this album superior to just about everything that is out there?

It's impossible to describe. I actually have trouble defending this album because it's relentlessly simple. But there's a certain mystical power behind it all. Like the band was possessed by a supernatural being.

Song by Song

Begravelsesnatt

The album begins with the most straightforward song, "Begravelsesnatt". It's basically just three riffs that consist of three, maybe four power chords. Yet, those are the best chords they could have possibly selected and they where sequenced in the best possible order. Despite being so simple, it generates a feeling of uneasiness that engulfs the listener; as if the gates of hell have just appeared within eyesight and we are all dreading the thought of having to enter. It's a perfect way to introduce the album. And then it improves. Massively. The next seven songs on the album are absolute masterpieces can do no wrong.

Crushing the Scepter (Regaining a Lost Dominion)

Starting with the very next one, "Crushing the Scepter (Regaining a Lost Dominion)", the listener is plunged into the darkest of nightmares the underworld has to offer. A commanding set of power chords begins marching the song forward before giving way to a slow and almost serene riff. The serenity is then pierced by a frenzy of  minor chords that unleash all the melancholy demons from the bowels of the Earth. The riff coming in at about 1:32 is exceptionally good. It's at this moment where all the bats take flight and scatter themselves across the horizon of a setting sun. The song then cascades towards the end with a beautiful minor key melody. The range of emotion and melody in this song is truly amazing considering it's just a few chords.

Ritual

The next song, "Ritual", is equally spectacular. Once again, Gorgoroth display an effortless ability to capture varying moods and textures with simple riffs in a short amount of time. The opening riff is standard black metal riffage. The second riff, however, is a slow, crushing, ultra-heavy, and evil riff that slowly bludgeons everything into a bloody pulp. An arpeggio emerges from the bludgeoning that is equal parts elegant and sinister. A brief pause is taken, a drum roll, and then all hell breaks loose with a straight ahead minor key black metal riff that manages to be unholy and beautiful at the same time. The riff that arrives around 2:43 deserves special mention. Absolutely epic climax that that lets loose all the nightly specters to haunt the dreams of mortals only to retreat to the arpeggio riff and descend with grace as the dawn arrives.

Drommer Om Dod

The next track, "Drommer Om Dod" takes a different approach than the previous two. It generates a hypnotic effect by alternating two riffs: one is a slightly dissonant chug of chords that burrows itself into the Earth to allow entry way into the Inferno , the other is a malevolent tremolo picked melody that spirals to reveal tortured figures longing for revenge. The two riffs alternate back and fourth, slowly burrowing its way towards the molten core to finally come to an enormous gate which, upon opening, reveals a nightly sky ruled by ancient demons.

Katharinas Bortgang

This song takes a similar approach to "Drommer Om Dod". It alternates between two hypnotic riffs before transitioning into a hair raising conclusion. However, where as "Drommer Om Dod" is slow and dream-like approach, "Katharinas Bortgang " ensnares the listener immediately with a furious blasting. The first riff attacks with a series of furious sword swipes. The second riff attacks with more elaborate dagger thrusts. They alternate back and forth, swiping and thrusting, until we are left with a mutilated corpses with blood spilling into the air and are left to wonder why so many have to die. But we resume the swiping and the thrusting because the answer to that question is "the weak must die".

Huldrelokk

This is the shortest song on here and it is an instrumental. Gorgoroth doesn't even need vocals to sound creepy and evil. A haunting but furious riff opens the song with a blast beat accompaniment. This is followed up by a series of single, tremolo picked notes as if to tease us with a period of relative calm. But then everything is ripped apart by a series of two, just two, minor chords that overwhelm the listener with pure malice and wickedness. The song closes with another teaser of relative calm as if offering prayers to ancient demons.

Under the Pagan Megalith

This is another straight ahead and furious black metal rocker in the style of "Begravelsessnat". It's impossible to not headbang to this groove. This groove is followed by thundering blast riff that uses the same chords as the groove. So it transitions back and forth; blasting and grooving its way into the skulls of sacrificial victims right before tearing their hearts out with a series of sinister riffs and raising the still-beating hearts towards the stars as an offering to the moon god. That last marching riff is just pure evil. All the demons celebrate on this night of sacrifice as they march back to their homes in triumph.

Manyskyggen Slave

Now we arrive at quite possibly the best damned black metal song ever recorded. Every single riff in this song is a barbed wire baseball bat whacking decapitated heads out of the park. A series furious tremolo picked riffs start tearing flesh apart before being abrubtly terminated by ultra-slow lurking arpeggios. They creep their way towards the threshold and then, suddenly, the threshold breaks. A throng of demonic hybrids comes crashing through and the slaughter begins. Poor, hapless mortals have their flesh torn away by all manner of sadistic weaponry: chainsaws, scimitars, bonesaws, and barbed wire bats. All to the backdrop of vehement minor scale tremolo picking and blast beats. A momentary pause to admire the bloodied scene, and the frenzy resumes. The cannibalistic desires of the demon-hybrids is continuously quenched until the most elegant melody in all of black metal casts its looming shadow in the light of the moon. The part-demon abominations have at last had their fill. They depart only for a swarm of ravens to descend upon the remaining carrion and have a feast of their own. This is the very stuff all Black Metal nightmares are made of. Best song Black Metal Song ever.

Conclusion

Gorgoroth's ability to display a variety of moods, textures, tempos, and emotions with limited musical vocabulary is surprising and utterly impressive. There is absolutely no one that can rival what has been accomplished here. What Gorgoroth manage to acheive in the span of mere minutes, most bands can't acheive in their entire careers. Such rich and vivid imagination poured into these songs that it's impossible to find elsewhere. If I were to recommend one, and just one, black metal album, this would totally be it. Utterly breathtaking.