Copyright © 1999 Nuclear Blast
1. Destroyer
2. Open The Gates
3. The Devil, The Sinner And His Journey
4. Om Kristen Og Jodisk Tru
5. Pa Slagmark Langt Mot Nord
6. Blodoffer
7. The Virginborn
8. Slottet I Det Fjerne
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Gorgoroth set out to create a black metal album after the apocalypse of black metal: the innovators have faded and now most black metal is droning rock masquerading under corpsepaint and distortion. The epic nature of previous Gorgoroth works backgrounds itself behind cyclic iterations of ideas expressing in functional listenability a morbidity and hope to be found in the philosophy of night. Melodic riffs alternate between a quickly-changing form and an extended form in which the basic points of melody are suspended in tremelo picking that sustains notes over distances in which the vocals and drums integrate complexity. The ideas as expressed in these riffs differ slightly from the first two Gorgoroth albums in appearance and are slightly derivative of the same, but use more consistent structural tone centers to avoid the extenuated development in connection to one another that made earlier Gorgoroth albums listening journeys. What connects them are radically dynamic tempo changes, in which a hardcore-style pickup beat launches a new iteration of a tonal pattern in a throwback to early 80s thrash bands, and then a lead guitar melody integrates the two into a final rushing tackle of harmonizing micro-riffing. While this album is not of the black metal classic style, its energy makes it a contender for what is left of black metal in the "holocaust of adulthood" of its collision with the valueless void of commercial society.
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