Excellent ingredients, lacking spice
Michael E. Mitchell | Minocqua, WI USA | 05/20/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I'm a big fan of all the "ingredients" in this dish. I'm not a big fan of this finished dish; it lacks, for me, seasoning/spice. IF you are a fan of Gorgoroth's albums "Twilight of the Idols" and "the all-Latin title prior to the latest all-Latin title"...in other words, the ones featuring mostly Gaahl/King ov Hell compositions, you will probably be keen on this album. But that may be the only type of Black MeTal fan that will REALLY like this. It isn't a "bad" album, per se, just doesn't have a lot to sink your teeth into. Shagrath's vocals are great, and it is slightly interesting to hear him perform in a non-Dimmu or Chrome Division style(unless you are such a "troo" BM kvltist that you scoff at Shagrath for being such a "sell-out"; but then you probably wouldn't be buying anything that sells more than 13 copies); Frost's drumming is, of course, phenomenal, and the other fellows do excellent jobs as well. Again, a lot of excellent ingredients that culminate in a bland final product (for me). It sounds great, without being too "slick", but there is no gritty, dark feel to it, either. There were no excellent riffs on here that hooked me; nothing remained memorable even a few minutes after listening to it. So if you did like the King/Gaahl era Gorgoroth releases, you will most probably like this quite a bit, as one can easily hear that it was meant to be the next Gorgoroth album after those (in this instance)buffoons decided to oust the one remaining founding member and take over the name...which leads me to an amusing point: King and Gaahl and Infernus are all such self-proclaimed devout Satanists (which I can attest to as I was lucky enough to be able to speak to each of them regarding this and other less esoteric subjects)...why were they all fighting so bitterly over a made-up name from a fantasy series that has nothing whatsoever to do with Satanism? $$$, perhaps? (well, I can see Infernus' wanting to keep the name of a band he was a founding member of, and for once a "justice system" arrived at the proper decision). An "OK" release, I just prefer something a bit more savage and/or memorable."
Track Listings (8) - Disc #1