God Seed: I Begin

I Begin is the debut from the outfit going by the name of God Seed, which is basically the new band of former Gorgoroth members King ov Hell on bass and vocalist Gaahl , who are joined here by guitarists Sir (Trelldom, Djerv) & Lust Kilman (The Batallion, Grimfist), drummer Kenneth Kapstad (Motorpschyco), and keyboard player Geir Bratland (Dimmu Borgir). The name of the band is taken after the song "God Seed" from the last album King and Gaahl made together in Gorgoroth, Ad Majorem Satanhas Gloriam. After King's project Ov Hell with Dimmu Borgir's Shagrath failed to make much of an impact, God Seed looks to be the real deal for these musicians as they look to move past the whole Gorgoroth scenario and make their name in the world of black metal.

After going through I Begin a few times, that shouldn't be much of a problem at all. This is pretty strong material, with most of the songs written by King and containing the right amount of brutality and atmosphere common with Norwegian black metal. Keyboards are used liberally but not overpoweringly on "Alt Liv" and "This From the Past", and there are no shortage of vile, savage, pulverizing tracks, such as "From The Running Of Blood " and "Aldrande Tre", while "Hinstu Dagar" slows the pace down to an almost doomy death metal dirge, complete with crushing riffs, organ, and a mix of clean & growled vocals. You can almost hear the influence of Enslaved on this one. In fact, there's a melodic, slightly progressive feel to many of these songs, not unlike what we've heard from Enslaved and Dimmu Borgir over the last decade, certainly more textured and dense than a vast majority of the Gorgoroth catalog. Through it all Gaahl sounds fantastic, whether he's growling and shrieking up a storm on "The Wound" or injecting whispers, moans, and groans on the avant-garde "Bloodline".

It's refreshing to hear a black metal release that's not afraid to take chances and go off into areas such as prog, avant-garde, and psychedelia, but I Begin does just that. Here's hoping King, Gaahl, and crew keep this project going, as there is a lot to enjoy on this one that no doubt hints at more to come.

Track Listing

1. Awake
2. This From The Past
3. Alt Liv
4. From The Running Of Blood
5. Hinstu Dagar
6. Aldrande Tre
7. Lit
8. The Wound
9. Bloodline

Added: October 19th 2012
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 2498
Language: english

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