By now, we all know the recent chain of events in the Gorgoroth camp-founding guitarist Infernus has won the rights to the Gorgoroth name from singer Gaahl and bassist King through a court decision, and thus is carrying on with the band with a whole new line-up. On board alongside Infernus now are vocalist Pest (who spent a bit of time with the band back in the mid 90's), drummer Alzazmon, bassist Frank Watkins, and another name from the past, guitarist Tormentor. The end result is, well, another solid Gorgoroth album, filled with basically what we've come to expect from this outfit.
Quite frankly, the return of Pest on blackened shrieks is just what the doctor ordered here. His tormented howling just fits in perfectly with this type of music. Nothing against Gaahl, who has a pretty unique vocal delivery, but Pest just sounds right at home on tunes such as the savage "Rebirth" and the slower, almost doomy "Building a Man". The guitar team of Infernus and Tormentor are back in action creating a wide assortment of tasty tremelo picked riffs, but thankfully there is a ton of variety in the riffs and arrangements that make this album such a pleasure to listen to, which is something Marduk also accomplished on their recent release. This is very important in the evolution of modern black metal, as too many bands in the genre seemed stuck in a rut for many years, so it's refreshing to hear a veteran band pull off such varied and effective styles here. Though there are moments of blast beat brutality, the band never bludgeons you over the head with it, instead injecting moments of unbridled savagery into songs that offer plenty of varied tempos and moods, like they do so well on the excellent "Cleansing Fire" or the epic sounding "Human Sacrifice".
Historically, Gorgoroth has delivered quality black metal time and time again for close to 20 years. Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt continues that fine tradition, and shows a band that, despite all the recent upheaval and uncertainty, is back and better than ever.
Track Listing
01. Introibo Ad Alatare Satanas
02. Aneuthanasia
03. Building A Man
04. Prayer
05. Rebirth
06. Cleansing Fire
07. New Breed
08. Human Sacrifice
09. Satan-Prometheus
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
