Customer Reviews

Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

How many times have you - an extreme metal fan - bought a new C.D. and listened to it with anticipation only to discover you've already heard the album a countless number of times before? Considering how much really unoriginal music there is in the world today, it's safe to say that that has probably happened to you at least a few times. However, you may have also noticed that some unoriginal albums are better than others, and you can even have so much fun listening to an album that you forget how many times you've already heard it. The reason for this is simple: Musical delivery counts for almost everything.

Case in point: Norwegian black metal quartet Gorgoroth. Their seventh full length, last year's "Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam," breaks absolutely no new ground for the band or the genre, but the fact is it rocks incredibly hard, energetically, and convincingly, so it's nearly impossible for one to care if it isn't particularly unique.

These eight compositions are the real deal, folks: evil black metal through and through. And even though there are more than a few bands playing this type of music nowadays, Gorgoroth can definitely still do it better than most. Almost nobody even comes close to these masters for successfully combining crushing heaviness, quality songwriting, impeccable musicianship, and steadfast consistency. Plus, "Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam" features some nice, meticulous textures and dynamics, so it is substantially hookier and easier to digest, and less predictable and one-dimensional than the typical black metal release.

Frost (A.K.A. Kjetil-Vidar Haraldstad), the seminal black metal skinsman who is world-renowned for his godly talent, appears here on his first Gorgoroth album since he left the band in 1996. He makes his presence known right away, too, by launching into a barrage of persistent, smashing, octo-limbed, carnage-inducing blast beats on the fierce set opener "Wound Upon Wound." Most of the rest of these songs are equally as brutal, but they're interspersed with restrained, more melodic numbers so the disc doesn't become monotonous. For instance, after the next track, "Carving a Giant," grinds to a close, "God Seed (Twilight of the Idols)," storms onto the scene with breakneck speed, and Gaahl's hideous, retching vocals go to battle against Frost's walloping trapkit and Infernus' scalding, revved-up guitar leads. Other highlights include the crunching, ultra-doomy guitars and melodic (almost choral) backing vocals on the bone-chilling "Sign of an Open Eyes," Frost's bottom-heavy, jackhammer double bass kicks that anchor "White Seed," the ridiculously fast blasts, machine gun riffs, and softly strummed outro of "Exit," and "Untamed Forces," which contrasts almost grindcore-worthy brutality (i.e. great, massive riffs, smoking leads, busy, slamming drums, bludgeoning rhythms, attack-the-jugular tempos, and robotic vocals) with an astonishingly slow part where (what sounds like) acoustic guitars enter the picture!

If the record loses any points for anything, it's for being so short (since it's only 31 minutes long, and the listener feels like they need another song or two.) That aside, though, all black/extreme metal fans who don't need innovation in music to enjoy it will find it extremely hard not to be very satisfied with "Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam."

Gorgoroth's new album is heavy, fast, and (although it may sound cheesy) as grim as a black metal album should be. It's a refreshing release reminiscent of something as good as the "golden age" 90s Norweigan black metal releases, but still with its own unique twist. In this album they've abandoned a lot of the experimentation in terms of electronica and noise and stuck with straight black metal, which makes the album much better than the last 2 or 3 Gorgoroth albums. "Sign of an Open Eye" reminds one of slow early 90s Darkthrone and Immortal songs, which adds to the overall atmosphere and complements the rest of the album.

Instrumentally, the drumming from Frost of Satyricon is very well done and he continues to show he is a top notch extreme metal drummer. Infernus's guitars have their classic feel of simple reverberating dark melody complemented by bursts of noise and distortion. King's bass is absolutely necessary for the sound of the album although it is difficult to hear over the guitar (as with most black metal recordings). Gaahl's vocals on this album are much better than on Twilight of the Idols.

Overall a very, very good black metal album, especially in a genre where many of the big names have almost abandoned their black metal roots entirely, Gorgoroth has released a modern classic, surpassing modern releases by other big names like Mayhem, Darkthrone and Satyricon by miles.

This band continues unleashing barbaric black metal mayhem and despite the close relationship that the singer and the law has had recently, it hasn't stopped them from continuing to corrupt the ears of the feeble and strengthen the minds of the converted. Gorgoroth are masters at what they do-they captivate your attention through well-placed slow monstrous passages while balancing it out with all-out bursts of chaotic noise. There's a lot of filth emanating from the material, enough to make the normal listener turn away with disgust and that's just fine. The fact that Frost makes a return-to-form to the Gorgoroth ranks and gives a hellish performance is a mere bonus.

I got into Gorgoroth about a year and a half ago and bought all of their albums. Of course I was looking forward to this release and when I heard the samples, I knew I had to buy it when possible. Then I finally got my hands on this CD and I was not disappointed.

To me, this is a great example of Black Metal. Everyone in the band does their part very well here. Gaahl's vocals sound very evil. Infernus's guitars, as the backbone of this music, instill a nice dark feeling to the songs. King's bass adds well to the music. Frost again does an excellent job with the drums and it's easy to see why they hired him.

As I listen to this CD, I sometimes get mixed vibes from their other works, particularly from Pentagram and Twilight Of The Idols. White Seed sounds like it was inspired by Destroyer's title track as it opens with a flurry of drums and demonic sounds (but quieter this time).

Sign Of An Open Eye reminds me of songs such as Teeth Grinding and Latini Til Satan, since it's a slow paced song. Of course, slow songs can still be great, and Open Eye is no exception.

I like all of the songs but my favourites are Wound Upon Wound, Carving A Giant and Untamed Forces (the title tells no lies about the song!).

For this release, the line-up consisted of Gaahl, Infernus, King, and Frost. After some of the weird, experimental songs on Incipit Satan and the not-entirely consistent songwriting quality on Twilight of the Idols, this feels like a real return to form, despite the band's lineup changes. You can't expect another Pentagram or Under the Sign of Hell with mostly different members, but what this proves is that they can write some very good Black Metal and keep the same sort of majestic Gorgoroth atmosphere. I liked parts of Incipit Satan, but there were moments on that album that didn't exactly feel like a Gorgoroth album. That's not the case here.

"Wound upon Wound" starts off the CD at a breakneck speed and never lets up, giving us a taste of things to come. "Carving a Giant" has some nice tempo changes and Gaahl is sounding good here, this is probably one of the catchier and more memorable Gorgoroth songs ever. "God Seed (Twilight of the Idols)" is probably my favorite track on this album, it has some great guitar parts and despite slower sections, the sense of urgency and adrenaline never really lets up, due in no small part to Frost's drumming. "Sign of an Open Eye" slows things down a bit and the words are spoken,it has a nice a creepy atmosphere and breaks up the pace of the album a bit. "Prosperity and Beauty" is another of the album's highlights and a good way to end the album.

I like albums I can listen to from beginning to end without skipping anything, and this is one such album. The musicianship and songwriting quality is consistent. The tempo of the song is varied enough to add interest without them doing anything too strange or experimental here, they keep things heavy and suitably evil-sounding throughout, it's just quality Gorgoroth material the whole way through. The main problem is that, at just over half an hour, it feels too short.

Gorgoroth are one of the most underated black metal bands. This cd really rips. If you can get past the fact that they are satanists you will enjoy this album. Musically they have grown with age. As far as their lifestyles go I wouldn't expect a U.S. tour which is too bad.

Gorgoroth is my favorite black metal band. They have a couple of incarnations, and I say that the non, Gaahl and King incarnations are my favorite. Still, I really like this record and my favorite song is "Carving a Giant." If you like the other incarnations of Gorgoroth, you will still like this album. Bottom line, don't take my word for it, check out their songs on youtube.

I'm giving it five (5) stars becuase it's still an excellent album.

Everything is in 100% working order. The cd is one hundred percent perfect. This album kicks so much ass it's ridiculous!

This is the point where Gorgoroth was almost at its end musically, Infernus was barely writing anything and let medicore bassist King Ov Hell and medicore vocalist Gaahl write everything.

Although I did like "Incipit Satan" for its experimentation and original sound I despised "Destroyer" and "Twilight of The Idols" and I was certainly not looking forward to this one. I can safely say though I do enjoy this album somewhat and can listen to it a lot more than the previous album.

Gaahl is a lot less irritating on this release, hell, I might even say he is pretty good. His presence and performance on songs "Wound Upon Wound" and "God Seed" make the songs worthwhile. Although I am still pretty sure he uses effects (Something I feel no REAL black metal vocalist should do so much) he still sounds pretty good.

Infernus might as well have given the guitar to King and asked him to play, because King wrote ALL of the music. The riffs here are your standard black metal riffs, none struck me as memorable or interesting except for tracks like "Wound Upon Wound", "Sign Of An Open Eye" and "God Seed". The riffs aren't bad per se but King has never been able to write anything memorable or original, listen to "Ov Hell" for proof of that.

The bass is played by King, and it is okay but again very generic. I never dug him as the bassist for Gorgoroth anyway. You can hear his bass a lot of the time but you'll never pay attention to it because it is so boring.

The drummer is famed black metal drummer, Frost, and it is not surprising that he has the best performance on the album. He varies himself a lot in each song and it is a shame he is backing up such uncreative riffing. Whether it is blast beating or more technical drumming he pulls it off well.

The production is good, especially for a black metal album. You can hear each instrument clearly. Each riff sounding furious and the drums sounding even more inpressive. Nothing is louder than the other. The production is the best thing about this album next to the drumming.

All in all, this is not a bad album at all. In fact, I can listen to this and not feel ripped off because this was pretty much what I was expecting only little bit better. It is a well produced album that fails to offer anything new or exciting. Tracks like "Wound Upon Wound" and "God Seed" make this album great though. "Wound Upon Wound" is up there in my favorite tracks by the band.
This was Gaahl and King's last album with Gorgoroth (Thank goodness) and it was a respectable last effort by them. Infernus is better without them though.


*My opinion has changed a lot on "Destroyer" since when I originally wrote this review. That album has grown on me quite a bit. So ignore the part of the original review where I mention "Destroyer"

I have difficulty understanding four and a half stars for this album when some others receive 5 stars for dull and unimaginative music...

This is possibly the heaviest of Gorgoroth and is surely the favorite with the "Under the Sign of Hell". Wound upon Wound is truly atrocious. Others like #2, #3 and #8 are also great black metal. The use of scudetto drumming makes it more interesting.

It does have a format like "Destroyer", but the songs are more refined.

This is a must have for black metal fans...