This is about as raw, cold, and evil as black metal gets folks. Gorgoroth's debut, Pentagram, originally released in 1994, now reissued and remastered (at Cutting Room) by Regain Records, is just under 30 minutes of nightmarish Norwegian black metal, brutally heavy yet also highly melodic. The vocals of original singer Hat are more like maniacal screeches, as his gravelly screams rip through torturous numbers like "Drømmer Om Død", "Begravelsesnatt", and "Crushing The Scepter (Regaining A Lost Dominion)" with the force of a ravenous banshee. Bandleader & guitarist Infernus (who has recently been banished from the band in a huge legal battle), along with bass player Samoth (Emperor, Zyklon) and drummer Goatpervertor, create the pulverizing musical landscapes here, which, despite the ferocity of these tunes, is often times melodic and easy to follow along to. Don't expect to understand a lick of what Hat is screaming about, and the breakneck pace of some of these songs (yes, plenty of blistering blast beats and raging tremelo picked guitar riffs abound) does make Pentagram go by pretty fast, especially considering you have less than a half-hours with of music here. Very similar at times to Dark Funeral as far as speed and symphonic nature of the riffs go (check out "Katharinas Bortgang" and "Huldrelokk"), the band really throws a curveball on the CD's last cut "Måneskyggens Slave", which starts out as almost groovy doom piece before bouts of insane speed as well as creepy atmosphere permeate the mix.
Regain's remaster job sounds great, but the packaging leaves a lot to be desired. Gone from the earlier Century Media version are the great (and truly evil) booklet photos of the band, replaced here with...nothing! Basically you get a single sheet card with no information other than the song titles and a quick summary of the recording of the album. Oh yeah, and a fold out poster is included, but it's only of the cover, which is nothing more than the band's black & white logo. If they were going to go and remaster these early Gorgoroth classics, and least do them justice and throw some lyrics and photos in there.
Track Listing
- Begravelsesnatt
- Crushing The Scepter (Regaining A Lost Dominion)
- Ritual
- Drømmer Om Død
- Katharinas Bortgang
- Huldrelokk
- (Under) The Pagan Megalith
- Måneskyggens Slave
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