Gothminister: Pandemonium

Where have I been for the last ten or so years? Well, clearly not being sworn in as a member of the Gothministery, because Pandemonium is my first encounter with a band that I instantly presumed were from Germany. However, with this lot hailing from Denmark, I can only presume that they liked to holiday somewhere a little further south, because if there’s one thing this album sounds like (and actually there isn’t, there’s two or three things this album sounds like) it’s Rammstein. Admittedly, at times you also get a whiff of a slightly cheesier Type O Negative and also the more theatrical side of Cradle of Filth, but in general, I’d guess if you’d like to see Rammstein dressed as crown wearing ghouls and singing about demons and the like, then this may well be your kind of Pandemonium.

A needless intro track aside, the album’s title track does a superb job of scene setting, a kind of less prickly Triptykon like ooze spiced by much more obvious riffing of gargantuan proportions, with a Ghost like accessibility playing along just underneath. The chorus is huge and a mighty memorable slab of chanting it becomes. And yet “Norge� is possibly even more adept at slipping in almost unnoticed, before slicing you clean through and revelling at the bloody mess created. Slamming beats and ultra-melodic synth stabs creating the tableau from where battle is proclaimed at top volume, and I can’t pretend that I haven’t been howling ‘Norge! Norge!’ for days on end now.

Unfortunately what surrounds this two masterful swipes of big, brash metal mayhem pales by comparison, and whether “Sinister� and it’s dancing keys and almost electro-pop goes metal intentions, or “Run Faster� where a much more symphonic metal romp occurs, nothing really sticks in the mind. Don’t get me wrong, nothing here is bad - and I get the impression it would all be killer live - but then neither is it all that invigorating, and especially when held up against this album’s true high points.

All too fleetingly Pandemonium lives up to its name, but for the large part what Gothminister have brought together here is an entertaining Germanic sounding metal romp that’s fun while it lasts, but then quickly… what was I saying again?

Track Listing
1. Abgrund (Abyss)
2. Pandemonium
3. Demons
4. Star
5. Sinister
6. Kingdoms Rise
7. Bloodtide
8. Norge
9. Run Faster
10. This Is Your Darkness
11. Mastodon

Added: December 15th 2022
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Gothminister @ facebook
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Language: english

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