Search - Cirith Gorgor :: Onwards to the Spectral Defile

Very suprisingly good

Roland | WC, Ca, USA | 10/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hello everybody, listen, this CD is POLISHED black metal, and polished black metal SUCKS, in my opinion it seems all the best black metal cds have had mediocre production, aka: ITNE, dark medieval times, blaze in the northern sky, pentagram, etc. But the cd Onwards to the Spectral Defile, for some damn reason, is GOOD. really good, this is no dark funeral or setherial, that just capitalize on black metal and play it blandly with good production and get popular, Cirith Gorgor manages to play all the stereotypical notes of black metal, but they play those notes in a good enough order so that it doesnt get old. The highlight about this cd is that it is melodic, reminding me occasionaly, if only occasionaly, of the really old in flames. People will say this has 'no originality', and in some ways it doesnt, but they perform with enough melody and talent and violence so that i dont really want anything different. If you're going to buy one cd with constant blast beats, violent singing etc, buy this cd or Marduk, this is intimidating black metal, not artsy or experimental, this is...METAL black metal, it has an effect like versus the world by amon amarth, it pumps you up, partially because of lots of drum rolls and pauses and occasionally understandable lyrics. if you like sargeist, marduk, etc, i recomend this cd. In its way of black metal cirith gorgor is humble, theyre not really crazy looking, theyre not super satanic to get attention, they just play BM for the hell of it, and, with all the amazing early 90's cds already having been made, thats all you can do, and they do it damn well. This will not revolutionize your cd collection, but there are moments on this cd that you will recognize as amazing if you like metal. Having said that, its your call, i like the cd despite its contemporaries :DF, dimmu, setherial etc and all those useless bands, i believe they have tapped into what black metal 'should be', instead of just screaming and blast beats and needley riffs with mediocre melody. These riffs are heavy, the melodies are really good, the blast beats sound awesome every time and the singing is energetic. Its about time this cd was made, some well played, creative, smart, brutal, black metal."